Betty Grof's Last Stand
by Eli Gumez
Summary: Will Betty save Simon? Golb has returned and in the land of Ooo there is war. What did Betty see in the great void? How will she save Simon? There will be blood, you have been warned...Also real engineering and Math stuff...
1. Absolution

**Absolution**

(Dramatic Sound!) It was then that she realized, that the answer was there all along. When Betty tried to solve the math equation and the Ice thing meddled with it, she had a revelation. This thought was strengthen as she stared into that white void.

Betty has always been a woman of many mysteries. She's intelligent, adventurous, brave, with a temperament and knowledge about many subjects, from art to science. During her superior studies, physics and electronics were her best suit. Betty could pass the whole night trying to solve an exercise, math can be like that. The thing is that young Betty noticed patterns, little yet fundamental things no one else noticed. These observations annoyed her, how could she be the only one who could see? How could she be the only one that saw these horrifying but also cool revelations about life and possibly it's meaning? Back in the day, before the war, humans believed in one greater being, that life was only possible on earth, and that one day when they died, they'd live forever. But Betty knew better, her electronic studies and math told her something else.

All of these thoughts came back to her, and once Finn, Jake and Germain left Mars, Betty went back to her sand hole.

\- Nonsense!- she said to herself and with a wave of her right wrist, Betty moved all the sand and filled the enormous hole in one swipe.

-Betty! What are you doing? You were having a significant advance! – King man baffled.

-No king man- Betty replied, her voice sounded flat, almost like a robot- This will never help me save me or Simon, it's just filling a stupid hole, a waste of time.

King man stood in place unknowing what to do or say, it was as if the old Betty was reborn, that scary, universe threatening, all confident woman was back, but with a more imposing feel to her.

-Talking about time- Betty placed her index finger on her lips as king man shook- I guess I have time, but… not quite- she uttered paying no attention to the new king of Mars until she gazed- Oh! Don´t worry, I won't try to go back in time this time, it's much simpler than that- She blinked her left eye and slowly made her way across the streets of Mars.

-Come on Betty, you know you can't change what's been and done- King man strode behind making all sorts of hand gestures as Betty walked- You're just going to hurt yourself again, what will you do then? You can't last another failure, you'll really go mad this time, come Betty, let us go back to your sand hole and…- Betty turned violently around about to explode but took a moment to breath and calmed down.

-King man, trust me, this time I know exactly what I'm doing, and the best part is, I won´t interfere with cosmic reality changing stuff- Betty grinned. King man was unsettled by that smile, he couldn't tell if it was her madness taking over or if it was a glimpse of her normal self.

-But, what if you fail? Then what? - he took his hat off and pretended to wipe it.

-Well then I guess I'll have you to give me empathy! - She let out a crazy witch laugh as she disappeared though a violet vortex.

King man sighed and noticed a paper note right where Betty had vanished, he crouched and grabbed it. He smirked when he read the note say "But I won't fail 😉 ".

 _-Professor, what exactly is a transducer? - Betty asked as she pushed forward her glasses._

 _-That, miss Grof, is an excellent question! – Doctor Itzalá pointed at her. Doc Itzalá was a woman on her 50's, about 1.50 meters of height, skinny, with short hair, always wore a tropical fedora and dressed like a neo-hippie – A transducer is a device that transforms a certain type of energy into another type of energy, you got it?_

 _-Amm – Betty rolled her eyes to avoid contact with her teacher – Not quite, how?_

 _-All right miss Grof, I'll amplify the answer, let me give you a basic example they taught us back in kindergarten – the acoustics Doctor moved excitedly – Your ear is a transducer…_

 _-My ear? – Betty frowned._

 _-Yes dear, your ear- she said back in a proud manner._

 _-But… - Betty was confused._

 _-I'm not done! Let me explain- Itzalá grabbed her colour marker and began to draw a simple sine wave on the board and an ear on the other side- When this sound wave reaches your external ear, it concentrates right in the middle, then it reaches the membrane and this membrane is pushed back and forth by the sound wave- She moved her left hand to the right and left simulating the ear drum- What this negative and positive movement do is move these tiny bones called malleus, incus and stapes right in the middle section of the ear – the Doctor pointed at the white board._

 _Betty was understanding – and then? - she asked now with a sense of curiousness._

 _-Then, miss Grof, these three little bones begin to move back and forth transforming that signal into mechanical energy._

 _-Wow- Betty gasped, she was fascinated by the new information taught by her professor._

 _-When these bones start to bang on this other thing I drew here called "the cochlea"- she waved her hand in a childish manner as everyone let out a friendly laugh- a chemical liquid is pushed also around, turning the mechanical energy into chemical energy._

 _Everyone in class was silent. Itzalá looked around, focused her sight and continued._

 _-Then on these last section, there are these sensors, little hair like sensors, each one containing one single and different frequency, for all 20 to 20 kilo hertz of the audible spectrum. When the chemical energy interacts with these nerves, such sensors transform the chemical energy into electric energy, which is sent to the brain and then interpreted by it, and that my little ones, is how we are able to hear, and that, that is a transducer – Doc Itzalá finished. Everyone stood amazed, then she added – Microphones, also speakers, work just like you ears, at least the first part of the auditory system._

That's a memory Betty recalled while traveling through her violet vortex back to earth.

"We are nothing but electronics from another dimension" She thought deeply "and since we are ruled by energy, and our thoughts, and what we see, all transform into electric energy, then we can manipulate that energy and transform it into another type and back to its original form and so on" Betty was more and more confident as she thought about it "and that is how I will have my Simon back".


	2. Back to Ooo

**Back to Ooo**

The land of Ooo was nothing but a glimpse of what it once was when Betty arrived. It was a battlefield, holes that looked like craters, rock piles all around, burned trees and some fire cites still burning. The skies took an orange red colour and the clouds turned black. The corpses of animals that once roamed the large forests of Ooo lay lifeless on the ground. What once was a silvery lake, now was a pound of blood, red, blue, green, you name it.

Betty was shaken by this discovery, she wondered what had happened, was this the result of her experiment the last time she was on earth? Or was it something else? She really wondered where she was, for the land was unrecognizable.

'Where am I?' she thought 'Maybe I didn't calculate right at the time of my teleportation' she looked around the chaos but couldn't make any sense of the scene. She began to wander through the muddy ground, taking careful steps, avoiding the cadavers of candy people rotting. The smell made her stomach take a spin and her throat gargle. It smelled like gum mixed with bad breath. At the far end of her view, she could hear the wind blow wipers and moans. This made her skin crawl and her fingers fiddle. Betty kept walking, wondering where she was going. Suddenly at the right of her sight, she caught something move. Magic Betty slowly walked towards it, slowly the figure came to view and she gasped when she reached it. It was some kind of small elephant kind of creature, only the top half of it, the rest of the body was nowhere to be seen. This creature was covered in mud and its guts where splattered bursting out of its interior yet you could tell that it was a yellow skinned creature. Betty approached it as it crawled with no avail. Betty noticed the fear in its eyes when the creature looked at her.

-It's ok, it's ok, I won't harm you…- Betty couldn't think of what else to say, she had never been in such a horrific scene. The creature still looked at her with fear, Betty cringed. The little elephant looking animal tried to speak but only spilled out blood and a low pitched cough. It was then that Betty noticed it was a female –Let me help you…amm… here… hold on- Betty grabbed its front legs and began to carry her but a loud growl and the feeling of something slimy running through her legs made her stop as she realized that all of its internal organs dropped and the animal was now dead. Betty immediately barfed.

-Oh gosh what have I done! - she lamented and ran away.

As she ran she saw all kinds of bodies, banana looking figures, a big muscular green woman, a huge turtle with blonde hair, a cupcake, huge robot like structures, a bear with a cap, and many, many candy people.

Betty finally stopped when she saw the candy kingdom, it wasn't in ruins but it did have smashed houses now and then. It was protected by a greenish force field of sorts. Betty stopped and thought a while, she kneeled down and grabbed a stick and threw it straight at the green wall. It burned in a matter of seconds.

-Just as I thought- Betty uttered and teleported herself inside –Well, that was easy.

The streets were colourful yet nobody was outside, it was like a happy ghost town. She wondered where could everyone be, and what was going on, maybe inside the castle she'll find answers. The castle's main entrance was busted and the insides lacked light. Betty ventured in, corridor by corridor, room by room she found nothing until she went to the depths of the castle. She was now in total darkness so she whispered some confusing words and spawned a sphere of yellow light. When the light hit the walls and beyond a loud distorted voice called out.

-Who dares infiltrate my castle?

Betty stood silent, and pretended it was her mind playing tricks on her.

-Who dares!? – it shouted once more, this time more aggressive.

-Amm,…Hello?...My name is Betty Grof…I…- Betty gulped- I am looking for a princess, Princess Bubblegum…

At the dark end there was no reply until – Bannana guards! Get her!

Betty heard how many running feet began to approach her, then grab her and eventually punching and attempts of staving. Betty was altered and screamed, she closed her eyes and began to make the sphere of light glow more intense until the creatures were blinded and hurt by the shine.

-Agh, stop it!- Betty heard a shrill of the distorted voice, now less distorted- stop it! I am princess Bubblegum!

Betty dimmed the light and saw a dirty pink haired woman standing in front of her.

-What do you want and how have you breached my security? - PB took out a dagger – Who sent you!?

Betty looked at her, she was a mess – Relax, I'm not here to harm you, I just came to visit, but everything is … is destroyed… what happened?

PB glared at her, taking fast paced breaths – Nice try Gumbald! –PB made a quick jump, dagger in hand and shouted as she threw herself at Betty- Die!

Betty in a blink of an eye opened a portal in front of her where Princess Bubblegum flew right by and ended back to where she was. PB got angrier and once again threw herself at Betty.

-Hey come on! I´m telling you the truth! Stop this! I don't want to hurt you – Betty said as she avoided PB's attacks.

-Hurt me? Ha!- she scoffed- You can't hurt me!

Betty felt challenged and in one move, she teleported Princess Bubblegum to the ceiling and dropped her about 3 meters form the ground. Her body slumped making a flat noise, then, Betty picked her up and slapped PB's face- Get yourself together- Betty said with every slap she gave and finally pushed her away.

PB was speechless, never before had she been beaten like that. Then, another voice from the darkness of the place made its way to Betty's ears, it was a familiar voice.

-Weird Lady! – Ice king made his entrance slowly – Weird Lady…- he gasped once more- What are you doing here? Me and Gunts thought you was dead for sure, wow!


	3. The Sad Castle

**The Sad Castle**

 _-Do you believe in the "soul"? – She asked while analysing a sample of blood in a microscope._

 _-Well, I don't know, it depends, in what sense? – He scratched his head in the dark laboratory._

 _-You know… when you die, will your soul float away somewhere?_

 _He let out a simple smile- Betty, you know I don´t believe in those things._

 _-Yes I know Simon- Betty replied with another smile- me neither, but you know, I think that our soul is nothing less than the energy, you know? Like… like a battery- her arm raised as her hand opened._

 _Simon pushed his round glasses upward- Like a battery… like a battery…- he mumbled- Exactly! You're right!_

 _Betty giggled, she always loved Simon´s expression when he found out something new, it was like a little child discovering a whole new world – yeah, like a toy, like RC cars, you have the whole structure, the wheels, the carcass, the circuit- Betty moved her hands from side to side- you've got everything but the electric energy, without the AA battery, the car can't move._

 _Simon payed intent attention to Betty, he also loved the way she would get excited when she wanted to relay her theories, inventions, thoughts and such._

 _-And that is what I think the soul is, the energy to make this sack of bones move- Betty finished and began to take off her lab coat. Simon stared into the nothingness, lost in his thoughts and then asked._

 _-But Betty, do you think, since it's energy, can it be manipulated? Altered with?_

 _That was a good question Betty thought, she hadn't thought about that- I think, now that you mention that, that… Yes! I believe it can be meddled with… you just have to find out how…_

Betty's thoughts were interrupted when Princess Bubblegum yelled -Do you know this crazy!?- PB snarled at Ice King while lying on the floor.

-Well… kinda… maybe, I think so, but maybe not- he took his crown off and scratched his scalp.

Princess Bubblegum glared at him and frustrated ordered- Well get her outta here! Now!

Betty stared with melancholy at Ice King, it had been a really long time since their last adventure together, and the way it ended made her feel sad, guilty, and yearning. He was old, but young, inside that damned crow was her beloved Petrikov.

-How are you? - Betty asked and took small steps towards him, caressed his beardy cheek and stared into those grey eyes.

PB witnessed this abstract, unusual scene and wondered who that lady really was, why was she talking to him in that way and why was Ice King reacting so normal to this.

-Well, I don't know… I'm alive! That's good aint it? - he said blushing as Betty's eyes began to fill with liquid. She finally gave up and hugged him, so hard that some of his bones cracked. Ice king looked at PB and snickered.

-I demand to know what the hell is going on? - Princess Bubblegum got up stumbling on the way and began to wipe the dust off her ripped robes.

Betty backed away, saw little Gunther, kneeled to pet him, looked at her and said- Look, I don't' want any trouble, I need your help- PB's eyes shrunk in confusion.

-My help? Why? - She asked and before Betty could answer she continued- Who are you? - now with a menacing tone.

-I´m Betty, Betty Grof…- Betty extended her right hand towards her _´do these people even know what this gesture is? ´_ she thought.

PB looked at her hand concerned, then into Betty's eyes- What do you want with me? What do you need my help with?

Betty took a glance at Ice King whom had Gunther on his chest – Well… I can't really tell you right now- Betty moved her eyes into Ice King's direction. Princess Bubblegum wasn't pleased.

-Well if you can't tell me, then I can't help you, and even if, I can't. I'm in the middle of a war, me and my people, and Ice king- She glared at him and he guiltily looked away- have to get ready for the last attack- and with that she turned away and disappeared in the dark.

Betty was about to shout something mean but kept it instead. Her eyes met Ice King's when he broke the silence- She's not always that mean, you'll get used to it.

' _Get used to it?'_ Betty thought – What's going on Simon? What is this talk about war and a final attack?

Ice King sighed, placed Gunther back on the ground and said- Come with me, let me explain- he ushered her with his left hand.

They walked through corridors and spiralled stairways till they were out in one of the castle's balconies. The destroyed land of Ooo was visible from there. You could see the dark burned forest, the wilderness, and at the far right end, the Ice kingdom, it was flawless. On the camp were destroyed vehicles, rusted metal barriers, broken and burned wood, tools, tubes, arrows, knives, swords, and many, many limbs. The smoke from some cites elevated to the blackish clouds. And on the far end of the north was a thunderstorm.

Ice King snorted and begun- Princess Bubblegum had this crazy uncle once long time ago, he wanted to dominate and overthrow Princess Bubblegum, so she turned him and his goons into nice candy people –Betty leaned on a pillar- And everything was goody goody till somehow, he was back, and declared war- Ice king cleared his throat placing his fist on his lips and continued- The war was grotesque, many died, from both sides, most princesses allied to PB, knights, animals, candy people, people who weren´t even involved perished. It was weird, one day they were in the battlefield, the next they were not, prepared for another attack, and so on. But both are on the edge, the brink of destruction, none of them have the people or resources to win, both have lost Everything-Ice king closed his eyes.

-But, what about Finn and Jake? Where are they? Did they die? - Betty asked concerned.

Ice king widened his eyes when he heard that- Oh gee! My friends- he covered his face with his hands- we don't know, they were last seen on the battlefield, no one knows what happened to them- Betty made a sad frown.

-But the real reason Princess Bubblegum is so frustrated is because her crazy uncle took prisoner one of her most beloved friends- Ice King returned with a sinister dramatic voice.

-Who? - Betty immediately asked like a little child listening to a bed time story.

Ice king took off his crown in a manner of respect and said – Marcy, dear Marceline…

Betty's curiousness vanished, she was expecting something greater, since she didn't know who the heck Marceline was- Who is she?

-Marceline is a good friend of mine, of all of us, but mostly Princess Bubblegum´s best friend, some even say Marcy and PB have something going on in there if you know what I mean- He lifted his eye brow, Betty stared flat at him- Glob knows what kind of tortures that mean old man is doing to her right now- Ice King´s fist hit his crown. Betty stared at him once more feeling helpless- But that's why we are going to attack first and recue dear Marcy- he finished with a simple grin.

Betty looked in to the ruins of the land, it was now twilight time and the sunset gave orange with pink colours all around, it was a beautiful disaster view. She wondered what was going to happen, if she let Simon go to the final strike he could be killed and her plan would be over.

-Ice King, you can't go to that final attack! - Betty demanded.

-Why not? - he asked surprised.

-Because- Betty looked away, she was plotting what to say- because… because you can stay with me! - She grinned grabbing his face- and we can travel around the world, ha! The world? Blah! We can travel around the infinite universe and have all sorts of crazy adventures together! Look! –and Betty began to spawn holograms of pink butterflies. Ice king was pleased, fascinated by the magical charms weird lady had- You and me, together, I don't know, think about it- Betty made a cheeky, seducing face.

-Okay! - he laughed and Betty was relieved- Ah wait a minute! -he snapped out- no, I can´t, something deep inside me tells me I must save Marceline, nice try weird lady, nice try…

-Damn it Simon you will die if you go! Look at all of this! Look! - she grabbed his head and showed him the warzone.

-Ah… woops, sorry let me take this…Ring, ring, ring!- Ice king pretended to answer a call on with a broken piece of rock- Alo? Oh it's you Gunther! How's the weather?

-Waaa- Gunther chirped below Ice king, Betty rolled her eyes.

-Ok Gunther I'm on my way, beep! - Ice king hung up his stone phone- Sorry gotta go- Ice king ran off into the castle.

-Shit! - Betty yelled violently at the sunset.

It was late and the sky was in complete darkness, the castle was lit now and then with torches. Betty lay down looking at the ceiling. She marvelled at the cracks it had _'how could it still be holding on?'_ She was now thinking how to convince Princess Bubblegum to help her, she knew just what to say but didn't really want to. Then, she heard on the depths of the castle, low frequency pitched voices of many people, like a war chant. She got up _'No! don't tell me they are leaving now!'_ Betty ran fast and followed the sound. When she got to a heavy door, she opened it and saw all sorts of creatures, with armour and weapons, training as PB yelled like some kind of coach. Betty walked towards her, slowly.

-What is going on? -She asked.

-What does it look like witch? We are training for the last stand- PB harshly replied and yelled at some candy looking thing to stab fiercer. Ice king was also there, throwing ice beams at some dummies.

-Look, I need your help…-Betty tried once more but was immediately turned down when PB grunted.

-I already told you! I can't help you!

-I know, I know! - Betty shook her hands timidly- That's why I have an offer you can't refuse – Betty proudly said.

-Oh really? - PB raised one eye brow- And what may that offer be? What could you, sorceress possibly help me with? Huh?

-Well, for instance, I can help you win this war- Betty frowned, she was starting to feel annoyed by Princess Bubblegum's attitude.

PB began to laugh, her laugh was a fake one- Oh my Glob! Why didn't I think of that earlier? After all you are omnipotent, darn! You are right!- PB sarcastically reacted- Hey everyone! This looney says she will win the war for us- Princess Bubblegum laughed and so did everyone else, even Gunther, except for Ice king.

-Come on you don't have to be an ass! I can really help you! – Betty unconsciously began to emit vibrations that began to feel like an earthquake, PB noticed it and worried.

-Okay, okay! Chill the F down! –PB raised her arms- Even if I can help you, I don't even know what you want me to help you with.

Betty looked around, saw Ice King was far away and began whispering- We are going to save my Simon- PB made a ridiculous expression and asked.

-Who?

Betty breathed and continued- Simon, my love...Ice king…- Princess Bubblegum was more confused than ever- My Simon! He is trapped inside that crown! - Betty pointed at Ice king.

' _Trapped inside that crown'_ Those words stuck in PB's mind and resonated. Then it all came back to her, no wonder why Betty's face seemed awfully familiar. The day she and Marceline ventured inside that horrific crown. Marceline's friend, with round glasses and long hair, the unfortunate investigator whom explored too far, Marceline's father figure, part of Marceline, the tragic lover, the martyr of love. Then she remembered the virus, that floating head that he endeared. 'Oh so she is…' PB felt an emptiness on her heart, at the pit of her stomach butterflies were being born. She knew the story, she knew the tragedy.

-So you are…- She stammered and her expression turned into a sad one.

-Yes! I am Simon Petrikov's love! - Betty gladly said- I have come from a distant time to save him, and I need your help, I am at the brink of success! I am this close!- Betty desperately placed her thumb and index finger together.

PB sighed as she took a glance at Ice king and said- You can´t save him, he is lost, there's no way you can save him. I'm sorry…

-Yes I can! You have the tools, the lab, the equipment, and some basic knowledge in biology and I have the brains and magic, the rest of the complex knowledge in math.

-Basic knowledge? - PB frowned angrily.

Betty smirked and preferred to ignore her question- come on, please! - Betty noticed Princess Bubblegum was beginning to give in- I know you know how I feel, to lose someone you love, I will not only help you win this war, I will also help you save Marceline!

-What? - PB suddenly snapped.

-Yes! - Betty rapidly said- You help me save Simon and I help you save Marceline and we both win!

-Who told you that? That's Private information! - Princess Bubblegum shouted- Ice King! Get Over here you idiot old puppet!

Betty's eyes filled with rage as Ice king stumbled his way to the princess.

-Why did you tell her about Marceline you stupid, stupid old man! - PB began to smack him.

-Stop it! - Betty yelled and pushed PB with magical force. Princess Bubblegum flew 5 meters away until she crashed on some creatures- You will not treat him like that, you hear me piece of rubber? Now get up and take me to your fucking lab! - Betty's surroundings where beginning to levitate.

Defenceless and impotent PB got up, shaking, beaten and said- I will not help you, get the fuck out of here, now!

That answer only made Betty angrier, her madness was taking over her, she couldn't help it, she took a glimpse at Simon, she knew she was putting everyone in danger, the whole castle could fall upon them, so she opened a violent thunder surrounded portal and told Ice King- I'll come back for you- kissed his forehead, screamed in frustration and left.


	4. Back to Mars

**Back to Mars**

' _King man is gonna tell me "I told you so" and I am not in the mood for his jerkiness_ ´ Betty thought as she travelled through her portal, a purple gateway that lead back to Mars. Her arrival was almost instantaneously, in less than a second, like opening one door and entering another. Betty's angriness mixed with her madness, she still hadn't been able to control her emotions while preforming magic. ' _Mars, the seed of life'_ she said in her mind as she saw the great futuristic buildings and red rocky grounds. ' _I really… really don't want to run into King man_ '. Surveying her surroundings, Betty took aggressive stomping steps and slowly began to settle as she calmed down.

The people of Mars were the most peaceful creatures. Hardworking, open minded, blissful. Ever since Normal man arrived, they had rebuilt and restored Mars, it is quite impressive. Their technology is very sophisticated, very new and fresh, unlike the one on the Earth Betty remembered. Martians had focused more on creating powerful laser tech. They used it in almost everything, from Medicine to Mass destruction weaponry. Only problem with it was that a laser beam can be reflected.

Most of the people on Mars knew Betty, the human from the past that redeemed Magic man and suffered his curse. Betty was greeted by everyone she passed by, very humble people. Sometimes she would receive presents from them, mostly food and rare fruits. Betty always felt they were thanking her for taking Magic man's powers away.

-Hey Betty! How's the hole treatment? - some random man hollered.

-It's going well Adventure Man- Betty deadpanned and increased her pace.

Children appeared cheering as they ran towards her, little Martian girls and boys skipped, jumped and played around.

-Betty! Betty! - a boy yelled from afar.

-Do a magic trick, do a magic trick! - another little girl clapped her hands.

-Yeah, yeah! Oh Betty please! - a boy in his 10's begged with his hands.

Betty was never the kind of girl that liked children, she always avoided them back in the old days, but these kids made her feel joy, hope in her heart. She liked entertaining the Martian infants.

-Okay, pay attention! – Betty snapped her fingers and prepared her hands -Waah Zaahbie was my name! – She conjured and a brief white glow sparked away and through that flash, the image of a dog with wings flew away until it vanished. The kids were amused as they dumbfounded wowed. Betty giggled.

-Do another one! Oh come on Betty, please! Say you will! - another kid knelt and begged. To this Betty laughed and ordered him to stand up and using her index finger, she lifted him.

-Check this out! - Betty spawned a card in her hand and with one swing of her wrist, it disappeared -Oh! Where did it go? - Betty made a surprised frown.

The children giggled as they told her it was right behind her hand. Indeed, it was, ' _Damn kids, it gets harder to amuse them every single time'_ Betty felt foolish -No it's not! - she affirmed, and used real magic to make it disappear then opened her hand to show it wasn't there -check you back pocket little Martian girl! - Betty pointed at one on the far end of the infant crowd. The little Martian girl placed her hand on her back pocket and began to frantically scream in joy as she jumped around showing the card, the kids lost it, it was a scene full of happiness and Betty smiled.

-Bravo! - King man clapped his way into the scene –you really know how to knock em' down! - he approached Betty –I remember back when I was Magic man, I would turn these kids into balloons and pop them with a needle- he grabbed his chin concerned –Anyway! How did it go? Tell me all about it! –King man said in a friendly tone.

-It went great! –she lied avoiding eye contact.

-Really? –he replied still wearing a smile.

Betty felt strange lying to him –no.

-Oh, that's … that's okay Betty, well at least you tried, it's okay to fail now and then – King man grabbed her shoulder and walked with her –You should rest, I know how fatiguing teleportation can be, so why don't you go to the sanctum and clear your mind?

-I never said I was done –Betty rapidly said.

-What? –He stopped and looked at her.

-I haven't given up, my plan is still standing, I'm just going to have to change something, and it may take me a little more time but the plan is the same -Betty grabbed King man's shoulder and ushered him to walk along.

-Okay Betty, whatever you say –he blinked his left eye. King man felt she was bluffing and decided to go along till she said.

-And I haven't forgot about Margles! – she pointed at him – We'll save her tomorrow first thing in the morning, not now because I am tired and I need to rest.

' _Oh no, Betty is still with that, Betty is crazy, crazier… maybe if I agree she'll forget_ ' He thought – All righty then, you should really go rest – he said once again with a silly grin.

-Yes King man, I'm going to the sanctum –And with that, Betty took another direction, meanwhile, King man looked at her with concern, Betty was so unpredictable, and more with her magical powers, he knew how it felt to have them, the potential they had, and the wrong outcomes they could bring. He worried because of that, but what could he do?

The afternoon on Mars passed by slowly and the streets began to glow with artificial lighting, not too bright, not too dark. The streets at night were very safe, the only security there was, was a space patrol. Every night, its habitants took turns on watching the stars with enormous space telescopes, if anything suspicious should appear, they would immediately warn the superiors.

The Sanctum was a place full of mysteries. It was deep below the grounds of the city, to get there, you must first take the long stairway. After that, you need to solve a riddle that changes with every visit, then, walk through a dark corridor where sounds from your deepest memories flow. Light doesn't reach that point, so every step taken felt like in a dream, about to fall to a pit. Your sense of guidance was lost inside there, you could walk for a long time and end up on the entrance. You know you have reached the Sanctum when you see the light of blue fire at the other. Inside that Sanctum, above, there is a mirror made out of water. Betty reached the Sanctum. It took her a little longer than usual, her thoughts tormented her. She remembered Ice king and how PB treats him. Betty liked to stay in the Sanctum, in fact, it was the only place she liked to spend the night at. There were huge pillars that disappeared in the water mirror, torches of blue fire that floated around. The ground was made of stone and the walls of rock. It was gloomy, perfect for a sorceress. Betty stepped into the centre and laid down facing upwards. She let her magic lift her body up and levitated. It was like an invisible bed. She could see her reflexion on the water. She looked at her face, she looked tired, her hair was long and messy, her clothes were dirty, her hat was dusty.

"What happened to you?" Betty's reflexion on the water asked her.

-I had a bad day -Magic Betty replied.

The first time Betty entered that Sanctum and saw her reflexion talk to her, she thought she was losing it faster than calculated, but after a few days, she noticed that wasn't so, the mirror was magical. It showed with its watery reflexion, the real identity inside anyone facing it. That was Betty's main reason to stay in the Sanctum. She could speak to her past self, her sane self. Normal Betty would give Magic Betty advice, past memories, answers to problems and personal emotional support.

"What happened?" Betty asked again.

-I couldn't come to reason with Princess Bubblegum -Magic Betty sighed.

"Pity, and Simon? Where is he?" She wondered with a sense of worry.

-I left him there at the castle –Betty tiredly answered, her voice with a pitch of regret.

Betty's reflexion saddened and said "So, are we gonna bring him here?"

-I'm afraid so –Betty closed her eyes.

"Chill crazy Betty, there is still me in you, so, everything will be all right" Betty winked her eye "Remember back in the day, we would solve problems, and not just any kind of problem, real head-mind breaking puzzles. There is always a solution for every equation, there is nothing we can't do".

 _Betty walked along Simon back home after a party. Simon had begged Betty to come, it was one of those first dates they had. To convince her, Simon asked for help from Betty's roommate. Her name was Lu, skinny short girl with shinny brown hair. Simon, Betty and Lu went to the party dressed as hippies since it was costume themed. Betty wore blue round glasses, a white shirt with flower designs on it and normal blue jeans. Lu wore a dark gold shirt and a brown vest. Simon put a brown fedora, a purple shirt with a brown vest and glued a fake full beard to his face. Betty remembers they had a great time, full of laughter and jokes, but what she remembers more was the way back home. Simon had asked a friend of his he met at the party to come along, in secret he told him to walk and talk to Lu so that Betty and him could walk together, and that's how it happened. Betty recalls Simon slowly placing his hand on her right shoulder, then, softly reaching to her right hand below, intertwining them as they walked. They didn't talk, for when they made eye contact all was said. His eyes full of love, full of worship, Betty's shinning eyes and tender smile._

Betty woke up back in the gloomy Sanctum. She slowly descended back to the ground, looking at the eternal blue fire dance and listening to the echoes of droplets. She made her way to the dark corridor, void of light. She was mentally preparing for the day, for it was time to come face to face with Golb and rescue Margles. Betty's hands began to shake to the thought of that. _'You can do it, you've got this Betty'_ she motivated herself. Even though for Betty, it was going to be an easy task, yet, she knew it was a really dangerous scheme. If something as small went wrong, she could die. But Betty was stubborn, and felt she really needed to do it. In a way, Margles and King man reminded her of Simon and herself. Both had a tragic love story, both lost their loved one to the Unknown. Betty knew exactly how King man felt as much as King man knew how Betty felt.

When Betty got out and breathed the fresh air of Mars, she headed straight to King man's throne. King man stood watching afar, he seemed in a good mood. When he saw Betty he greeted her with a wave of his hand.

-Did you rest little one? –he said with his friendly voice.

-Yes I did, how about you? –Betty asked as she adjusted her Magic man hat.

-Indeed I did Betty, thank you very much –there was something off, he felt out of character. Betty knew he was being extra nice to avoid the rescue plan.

-Good! Cause we are going to get Margles back, you ready? –Betty looked at him straight in the eyes. King man coughed and tried to change the subject.

-The Martian apple is really good! You should try it Betty, it has healing properties.

-Don't play the fool King man –Betty pointed at him in a menacing way –This is going down whether you like it or not, now don't make me lose my patience so early in the morning –Betty took small steps towards him.

-Me playing the fool? Never Betty! –He shook his hands in a refusing manner –I was just saying… You should have Breakfast before leaving –King man smiled, he was trying so hard to avoid her plan.

-Me? Only me King man? –Betty asked –But you should also eat, after all, you're coming with me –Betty said confident and glanced around.

When he heard that, his eyes began to twitch, his nostrils opened more every time he breathed and his fingers began to fiddle –to… to… together? –He stammered.

-Of course you silly King! –Betty laughed –I can't do this without your help, you know I'm magical but I can't make life come out of existence just like that, at least not yet – Betty grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at King man –Come on! –she giggled and began to pretend to be a rebel trying to bring down a dictator _-Down with the lazy King, Boo!_ -Betty moved around in protest and often threw small rocks.

-Okay! Okay! –King man hollered, he let out a smile and jumped off his stone throne and pulled Betty's hat off and smacked her with it –But first… we should have breakfast at the Martian market of wonders.

The market was vast, it had many things. Toys, house artefacts, clothing, magical gadgets, fireworks, relics, food and art pieces of all sorts. King man and Betty sat at a stall where they gave a classic Martian dish. King man ate calmly and Betty ate like there was no tomorrow. It had been a really long time since Betty had a good respectable meal. After being done, she ordered more, and when she was finished, she ordered even more from the varying menu. King man enjoyed seeing her in that state, he saw her as a little girl. He fell back to his senses when he remembered that after breakfast, they would go on a suicide mission, so he asked her what was exactly her plan.

-Remember when you sent me to the Temple of Mars? – Betty asked with eyes mid-closed surveying the surroundings.

-Oh Betty! I have tried retrieving her in there before, but it's useless – he gladly said, he thought it would be over but Betty continued.

-I am not finished, and no, that's not the plan, listen- Betty took a bite from some type of sweet bread –when I was inside there, I realized something, I was in some sort of trance as I stared inside Past Betty's room. It lasted –Betty peered inside the bread –I don't know, a lot. But what I discovered was fundamental. You may not even understand but I'll try to explain it as best as I can –Betty zipped a delicious lemon flavoured water –Damn this is good! –she suddenly yelled.

-What did you discover Betty? –King man was now intrigued and afraid. The market place was getting crowed and the natural sound of people flew in the air.

Betty took a large breath and began…


	5. Betty's Plan to Save Margles

Betty's Plan to Save Margles

-Superior Studies changed my life. They made me see life in another way, starting by physics. I understood the reasons for many things. My head could visualize the possible outcomes in an action. I comprehended mechanical waveforms, why we could tell from what direction and distance a sound was emitted. I could finally see why a simple fall to the ground could hurt so much. Vectors, initial velocity, final velocity, matrix, the force of friction, without it we would just slip away eternally. Small but fundamental knowledge to understand a very small part of the universe.

Then came Mathematics. When middle and high school teachers would say that math is everywhere and everything was made thanks to Mathematics, I would think "Where? I don't see where? I don't see numbers flying around, on this pencil, or chair, or house, or any object" but boy was I wrong. Every system is made out of it. It's not that some physical object is made out of "physical numbers", see, the thing is that to make the shape of that nice new car your daddy bought, you need to program a machine to do it for you. Machines can make shapes much better than the human hand, more precise and with less effort. Said machine can't do it just by its will, it has to be told what equations it must do to move certain part of its mechanical system, step by step, till it makes the nice curve as precise as Math can do. Say you want to know how long a huge tank of water takes to empty. Then you do differential equations and find out. It won't flush down the same when it is full than when it's half full or even one quarter of full. Math is like a puzzle, you just have to find the other piece that fits.

After that I learned about programming. How you can use little or long complex programs to manipulate a system to do what you want it to do. Give orders, restrict, wait for a signal and then do an action. "I want my house to lock its doors if suspicious movements are detected" or "I want a light to turn on when I play a specific note" or "I want my fan to rotate faster if I say the word _faster_ " etc. All of that and many more were done by programming. Your imagination was the limit.

Now the best, I based my life on this back in my superior school days. Probability. Yes, probability. Confusing at first, hard to interpret in a problem. My teacher was the best one, yet I wouldn't understand, but then I got the hang of it. Got accustomed to its right jabs, lower punches, knock outs that Math can give you. It all started when my people (humans) wanted to predict the future. So they hired scientists and what they discovered was Probability. There I found out how everything in the world is just a probability. Every single step you take, every move you make, every single decision you take changes the direction of an outcome of your life in infinite possibilities. There is no such thing as "destiny", nor the classical chit-chat about "It doesn't matter whether you throw a rock or millions of rocks in the river, water will always end up in the lake" Bull-fucking-shit! Yes it matters! Destiny is for losers that want a consolation for their miserable lives, for blinded faith believers who can't handle or don't want to accept this reality, the reality of probability. My life would have been different if I hadn't decided to jump through that portal Simon made. Maybe I would have died in the Mushroom war, yet my actions are the ones that brought me here, and that reality of me not jumping in and dying in the mushroom war exists, in the Alternate Universes. A place where all the rest of the infinite probabilities of my life's outcomes exist or have existed simultaneously.

I know all of this is hard to comprehend, but it is essential if you want to really know me. My life changed in a drastic manner. I saw life much different, colder, made me more cautious, opened my eyes, the dangers amplified. Why couldn't the rest of my classmates see!? See the naked truth. Nothing is casual nor random, it is all a chain of actions and reactions. Are you sleeping? Wake up! Bear with me, I'm almost done.

I also learned that a system can be manipulated to our advantage. "Hack" if you will. Knowing how the system works, and having the right tools, you can change its variables and change the whole result, even if it is a really small amount. All systems are hackable, there is always a way to create and a way to destroy, a way to unsolved and a way to solve. Anything can happen just as long as the conditions are met. And this is what magic is. The manipulation of this system, the reality system. I couldn't understand it at first when I arrived at Ooo for the first time. How was it possible for magic to dominate but then I saw in a scientific manner.

Anyway, when I stared at the white void, I saw Golb. It was there, not in its physical form, but in its mathematical form, its coding mode. The Temple of Mars is a gateway to Golb. But how? Is the Temple using Golb as a gateway to bring things back? Does it (Golb) know? Is Golb the Temple? What is going on!?  
All of these questions kept me from sleeping for the days to pass. I thought and thought, trying to solve the puzzle, and then it hit me. Like a Déjà vu, like realizing you are dreaming while sleeping, clear as day, it was a Glitch. A Glitch in the system like any other, a Glitch in the Matrix, in the coding. Everything will have a Glitch eventually, a malfunction, and it is natural in a vast system. There are millions and millions of Glitches spread all around and this one happens to be one!

Golb is the incarnation of the void. The void is something we can't comprehend, and if you tried or were able to, you'd simply lose yourself and become crazy. Let's just leave it at that. Whatever Golb eats, goes to the void and stays there. No way in, no way out, till now! There is always a way, always! Mathematics tells us that! And they never lie.

So today, you and I enter the Temple of Mars, and through that Glitch, we venture into Golb, find Margles and get the hell outta there! And Golb, ha! It won't even know Margles is no longer there. It's that easy!  
Did you catch that King man? –Betty smiled as she stared straight into his eyes and placed her hand on her right cheek.

King man looked back at her with confused, scared and shivering eyes and gulped…


	6. Inside the Void

**INSIDE THE VOID**

-This is it King man, the Temple of Mars – Betty stood in front of the entrance. The huge stone walls opened slowly, magically and creepy, as if something was lurking in the shadows.

King man glanced a far into the darkness. His fear turned into a serious expression, like when a man accepts his fate or death. He didn't really know how to feel. He lacked faith in Betty's plan but also faith in it. As seen from above, it was a suicide mission, but analysing her plan…well, it made sense, it was convincing.

-Are you sure we should enter together? The last time we mixed our minds, it turned out… you know… in a disaster. What if…- King man was silenced by Betty.

-I know that, but that's a risk you and I have to accept. Let's just focus well on our mission and push on through.

King man concurred with a hasty smile, took a deep breath and walked along Betty right into the Temple. The gigantic walls shut abruptly behind them, there was no light, no sounds and no wind. Betty felt a small regret, King man felt lost and the temple stood in silent blackness. He tried to communicate with Betty, but when he spoke, no sound came out. King man looked around, but since there wasn't any light, Betty was out of sight. King man began to panic, shaking all around looking for a solution, a way out, yet it was pure darkness. Then he finally heard Betty's voice call out.

-Relax King man! – She seemed to enjoy King man's reaction.

King man replied but still no sound came out of his mouth. That made him even more nervous. Betty laughed.

-This is the first challenge dummy. You can't communicate with your mouth. You have to communicate with me by telepathy- Betty stood silent for a few seconds to see if King man communicated- Ok King man, you just have to think what you want to relay and then… well that's it, just think what you want to say, it's easy!

King man heard Betty's voice all around and then began to think his response –Betty? Can you hear me?

-Yes – Betty thought back.

-Ah great! I was going to flip if it didn't work- He grabbed his forehead in relief- So now what? I can't see a single thing.

Betty giggled, she was crazy or she was really enjoying the trip- Close your eyes- Betty deadpanned and King man did as told. He could see Betty right in front of him with her eyes closed.

-Wow this is so weird - He scratched his head and opened his eyes. Everything turned black again- Woops! - He closed them again.

The place they were at looked like a floating meteorite in space. Infinite amount of stars shone in all directions. The concrete grounds had moss and trees arched. It was a very desolate place, but very beautiful.

Betty and King man began to wander around, eyes closed and mouths shut. They came across a huge hole in the ground. It looked like a well. In the bottom was pink-blue water and it waved around like a wild fire.

-Looks like this is the way out of here- Betty lifted her glasses with the tip of her right index finger- It sure looks like a huge drop- She grabbed her chin hesitating.

-Can't we just climb down Betty? – King man said sarcastically trying to hide his vertigo.

-Great idea! – Betty smiled and with her hands incited him to do so. King man crouched and began to descent careful and slowly.

-Hey King man! – He hear Betty holler from above and saw her hands grab both of his wrists – _"Long…live…the…king!"_ – She laughed and threw King man down the well. His agitated screams echoed as he fell into the fiery water below. Betty leaped into the hole and passed through the fiery water to the next challenge.

Betty landed on her butt and began to laugh.

-You treacherous human! – King man approached Betty with an angry frown as he pointed at her.

-Oh chill out King man! – Betty carelessly waved her left hand at him- Where the heck are we anyway? – She twirled her head around.

It was a twilight afternoon in a street full of fancy old buildings. Cars drove by and happy people walked on both directions. The sound of car horns, birds chirping and the breeze travelled with the air. About 500 meters away, a very nice structure erected high. It looked like a pillar and on top stood a golden statue of an angel. A few more meters away, a castle could be seen surrounded by forest. The sidewalks weren't even and some had considerable cracks. Betty felt a sense of nostalgia.

-Well this looks like your test Betty – King man said as he looked around. Betty fell into a small shock – Hey Betty, did you hear me? This is Earth, the Earth of your time line – He shook her shoulders till she came back to her senses.

-I think this was the day Simon brought that damned crown and wore it for the first time – she uttered and suddenly gasped – Gotta save Simon! – Betty's eyes shrunk and ran.

-Oh no! – King man was afraid Betty would lose it – Wait Betty! Where are you going? – He chased her through the streets of the old world.

Betty ran, she knew every inch of that place, every street, every park, every alley. Though it had been a long time since she was there, she managed to find her old place where Simon and her resided. King man followed her into a building, running up many stairways, passing by many apartment doors till Betty stopped on one.

-This is it- Betty uttered – This is where we lived, beyond this door lies my love – She spoke softly, barely audible. Betty felt afraid to open the door. It was a huge deal for her, it would be the first time since she arrived to Ooo, that she saw sane Simon again.

King man approached her, laid his left hand on her right shoulder and told her to be concentrate, to remember that this wasn't the real Simon, but only the projection of her memories, to be strong and do what is necessary to pass to the final trial. Betty's hand shook as she turned the doorknob and opened the door.

-Oh there you are! – Betty saw Simon next to a window looking back at her at the corner of the room. There was a small sofa, a tv on the left corner of the flat, the floor was made out of wood but was covered by long beautiful carpets – I've been dying to show you something so cool I gathered from my trip to Scandinavia – Simon walked to the other corner of the living room where a carton box laid. He picked it up with small effort and headed to a small squared table near the left centre of the room where he placed the box on.

Betty stared at him, incredulous and with yearn. Her eyes moved in and out of focus. She wanted to speak but wouldn't, she didn't know what to say. Her heart beat increased, and her lungs demanded more oxygen.

-What's with that silly hat Betty? – Simon took a glance at Betty, then to the box and began to peel the tape off the box – You look cute with it – Simon smiled at her.

King man poked Betty and whispered – I think you must interfere now – he suggested and Betty nodded.

Simon took out the golden crown out of the box and grunted in a victorious manner – There you are! – He held the crown up and the light from the lightbulb made it shine even more – Look Betty! Isn't it cool? A crown for a king and his future queen – Simon's face reflected on the gems.

She gasped and just before he could put it on, Betty sparked out a small thunder light that hit the crown off his hands and on to the ground – Don't put it on! – Betty frantically shouted.

King man began to suspect something was wrong with Betty, as if she was taking too serious the situation.

-Wow Betty! What was that? – Simon said fascinated – How did you do that?

Betty ran towards him and hugged him in silence.

-What's wrong princess? – He asked worried and began to caress her hair. She said nothing and kept grasping him tight. Simon and King man looked at each other confused.

-I have waited for so long, done so many things, done the impossible to save you, and now, I have! We can finally be together again! – Betty looked straight into Simon's eyes – This time I won't lose you - King man shook his head when he heard that. Betty had lost it, she couldn't tell the difference from reality and fantasy.

-Lose me? – Simon lifted her chin and gave a gentle laugh – don't be silly, you'll never lose me, have you gone drinking with your friends again Betty? – Simon giggled.

-Shut up and kiss me dummy! – Betty said and pull him towards her lips.

King man was bewildered. He was unsure if she was faking it or if she was for real – Oh come on! – King man shouted and the lovers stopped to stare at him –Betty, we gotta go, you've done what you had to do, now let's go.

-What do you mean King man? Where do we have to go? – Betty asked. Her eyes were innocent and lost. King man walked towards her -Well I'm staying! – Betty pouted and used her magic to push King man out of the room and close the door. King man stood up quickly and began to bang on the door, screaming to let him in.

-Damn it! I told you this was a bad idea! – He shouted angrily – That's not the real Simon Betty!

Inside the room stood Betty and Simon staring at each other again. Betty caressed his cheeks, Simon poked the tip of her nose and King man's shouts where muffled by the closed door.

-So, what shall we do first Simon? – Betty asked like a little child and a goofy smile.

Simon thought and then said – I know! We can put the karaoke on and sing together! I know that's on Friday nights but I really feel like singing – He said with excitement.

-He is not real! He is only the memory inside your brain! – King man said still banging on the door. Suddenly the whole building to shook for a few seconds.

Simon looked concerned at Betty – He's wrong, I am real, but not quite – Betty snapped out of her romantic trance – I am real because I come from you – He smiled – from your memories, from your heart. But you have to go and save the trapped Simon to honour the memory of me. Now Betty, go.

Betty immediately remembered Ice king, and her plan, and Margles, and Golb, and the mission she and King man had. The building shook once more, it looked like it wouldn't resist another quake – I know…- she finally gave up.

-Be brave, be strong, I know you can do it! – Simon kissed her forehead. She dragged slowly to the door, stared back one last time at sane Simon – I'll come back for you - she whispered and opened the door. King man sat on a step of a stairway. He stood up in an instant.

-Don't ever do that again Betty! This could have been the end of us! – He claimed.

-Sorry King man, I got lost in there, but now I'm fine, let's go! – Betty turned from a gloomy mood to an optimistic one.

-That's what I like to hear! – King man happily said.

Across the corridor, a door shone a yellow light around it.

-I think that's our way out- King man said. Both walked to the door, opened it and stepped inside the final test.

-Where are we? – Betty wondered.

They were at the edge of a cliff. There were many trees below, like a forest that spread a far. The sky had a soft pink tone, the wind blew slowly and many birds flew by.

-Oh no…- King man gasped.

-What? - Betty shook.

-Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! – King man began to move around in circles – This is the day Golb came and took my Margles away! I don't think I can handle this one! We gotta go!

Betty grasped King man's robe and slapped his face – We are so close King man! We are not donking up, besides, we don't have to do this one, we just have to find where the glitch is, remember? It was here on the last level? Remember? – Betty shook him violently.

King man got a hold of himself and nodded – You're right, you're right.

They walked across the hill. Betty searched for the glitch and King man looked around to avoid the fake Margles of his memory. There were many trees around. The small distant sound of a river could be heard. Underground stones rose above the grass and small animals perked up.

-This is just like that day Betty, what if Golb appears! What if it's the real one?! What if we accidentally conjure him here?!

-Nah! We won't, relax and follow me- she replied carelessly.

They walked a little further and then King man heard a familiar voice.

-Oh, Magic man…– King man naturally looked at where the sound came from and there she was, Margles from the past, winking her eyelashes right at him.

-Oh no, Betty, there she is, the next thing that will happen is that Golb appears, what do we do? - His voice sounded frightened.

-Well then don't look at her! Come! We'll stay away as far as possible – Betty began to feel nervous, she was now desperate to find the glitch. King man's panic began to engulf her.

-Magic man! I'm hungry, aren't you going to take me on a picnic? – Margles skipped closer to them and King man shivered – Oh I see, it's a surprise and you want me to follow you, okay! – Margles began to skip faster.

-No Margles! Stay away!... no don't stay away… I mean… yes… no! – King man clowned around.

-Magic man, what is that red pyramid behind that mount? –Margles pointed far above with a curious expression.

Betty squeezed her eyes to see better and noticed a space between a rock formation- There it is! –She shouted and grabbed King man by the wrist as they ran towards the rock formation.

Betty uttered a few words and widened the small opening on the rock – Get in! this is the glitch, it's now or never King man- Betty got inside. King man was hesitant but entered as he looked back at the fake Margles, the quaking ground and a huge triangular shadow that was covering the ground.

The glitch was a whitish tunnel that lead into the void, Golb. The walk there was heavy, every step took a higher effort and gravity became stronger. Inside that glitch tunnel, everything distorted. Betty and King man twirled around, changed in and out of scale, and the sound became louder at times and lower on instants, high pitched and low pitched. Betty left a trail of light in every step taken, she knew once they reached Golb, they wouldn't be able to find their way back, so that way they would know where to go. King man twitched around as he walked. Nosie filled the tunnel, and it looked like the static of an old television. There were many strings of numbers, characters and symbols traveling all around the walls of the glitch, like information, like machine language. Finally, Betty and King man fell for a second and floated.

-We are here- Betty said, she was intensively serious, almost sane, that's when King man knew the danger of their next actions.

The whiteness of the tunnel had disappeared, and now it was all black, deep black, so dark that when Betty put her hand in front of her, she couldn't see it. The only light was that on the glitch tunnel Betty had left. Betty whispered some arcane words and created a yellow light. The dim light showed hundreds, thousands, millions, thousand millions of bodies floating around in the nothingness of all sorts of creatures. Humans, animals, magical beasts, magicians, Martians, aliens, two headed horses, Banshees, Titans, dragons, angels, demons and many more. Betty gasped but King man covered her mouth. They had to be extremely careful.

-How are we going to find her – he whispered – there are millions of bodies, it would take us literally an eternity to find her.

Betty turned around and calmly said – Listen to me very carefully, do not lose sight of the light in the tunnel or we will be lost in here for ever, okay? – she waited for King man to nod then continued – I need you to focus on your most found memory of Margles, but really, really focus, she will shine in here when you think of her, then when we see her glow, I will use my magic to fetch her and bring her here. In the nothingness, it only takes one spark to light up the place, got it?

-Yes Betty- King man said firmly but quiet. He closed his eyes and began to remember his most beloved memory of her. Betty looked around but couldn't see anything.

-Concentrate King man – she muttered and paranoically kept surveying her surroundings.

He thought of the day he met her, no avail. He thought of the time he kissed her for the first time, nothing. He thought of her wavy hair, still nothing. The sweet smell of her scent and something in the void sparked for a second but neither of them saw it.

-Harder- Betty whispered harshly.

Then he thought of the times Margles cooked him food. How good it tasted, her effort and tenderness she applied to make his belly happy. Then, then on a really far, very far, infinite far edge, a dim light shone -Yes! Keep it up! - Betty began to pull Margles with her invisible magical chains _. 'This is going to take years to pull her back'_ Betty thought. She decided to open a portal and shook her arms and opened a portal right in front of Margles' distant floating body and transported her in an instant back to them.

-You did it! – King man frantically shouted, amazed, baffled by his lover's body.

-Shh! - Betty frowned. Some of the floating bodies began to wake up, and stared at Betty and King man, then to the light of the glitch. Their intentions where obvious, the look on their eyes said it all when they saw the tunnel.

-Oh no, King man! We have to get the fuck out of here now! – Betty floated as fast as possible to the entrance of the glitch. Like swimming on the bottom of an ocean. King man carried sleeping Margles and floated towards the tunnel.

-Hurry! If those beings reach the tunnel they will scape! And Golb will feel it!

King man rapidly moved, so did the rest of the creatures trapped in there. When he finally reached the tunnel, Betty was already on the other side and the rest of the living souls were right behind him. King man crossed the white glitch tunnel with Margles on his arms, his heart accelerated and gave him adrenaline. But it was too late, many of the creatures that were inside Golb were right behind King man and eventually reached the other side. Running out of the glitch like rats, like baby spiders crawling away. By the time Betty narrowed the glitch to its original size, at least one hundred living beings had escaped and the rest made a chaos inside the tunnel, trying to widen it again, screaming, roaring, begging to be set free.

Betty, the freed creatures and King man carrying Margles ran out of the temple, closed the temple's stone gate and finally rested on the ground. Once the temple closed, the glitch disappeared.

" _It was only a few..."_ Betty thought _"a hundred against the infinite amount of souls in there is nothing, it's like losing one coin of a pirate's treasure chest, Golb won't notice a thing"_ Betty breathed deeply, fast and glanced at King man. He was in a whole different world, marvelling at Margles, he couldn't believe it, Margles was there, asleep but alive. Betty's plan had worked. He looked incredulous at Betty. She looked tired and suddenly fainted.


	7. Aftermath

**AFTERMATH**

Betty woke up in a white room with a huge clock hung up on the wall that marked nine thirty-seven. The bed was soft as a cloud and her pillow swallowed her head. On her left was an open window where distant sounds entered. Betty moved her tired eyes, she couldn't see a thing and realized she hadn't her glasses on.

-Good morning Betty- King man greeted. He sat on a chair near the right center of the bed- take it easy- he waved his hands as Betty began to lift her torso.

-What happened? - she touched her forehead, her head was pulsating.

-Well, you fainted after we got out of the temple, you've been asleep for a whole year! - King man gasped.

-What?!- Betty rose up in an instant and got a crap.

King man began to laugh- Calm down, clam down! I'm kidding- he patted Betty's leg- I couldn't resist the temptation. You've only been asleep for one week- The clock on the wall moved to nine forty.

Betty relaxed and saw her glasses on a small table next to her. As she wore them, she realized that the room wasn't white but light gray. King man had a huge smile on his face, he seemed clean and relived. She then remembered the last hours she was awake.

-How's Margles?

-Before anything Betty, I want to thank you so much for what you have done for me, me and Margles. I can't ever thank you enough so I had a huge statue of you made in the center of the city, so the people of Mars never forget you- King man moved his arms elegantly.

Betty blushed- A statue?...

-We've also renamed the Sanctum to "Betty's Sanctum"- King man kept swaying his hands.

-But you didn't have to do that King man...- Betty kept blushing and scratched the back of her head as she gave a shy laugh.

-Nah, nah, nah! You deserve that and much more- he shook his right hand denying Betty's shame- you brought me my Margles back and for that I owe you, big time. About Margles- King man cleared his throat- she is in therapy.

-Oh no, but why? - Betty worried and once again got a cramp while lifting her torso rapidly.

King man gently laughed- Silly Betty, you are still high. Margles had been lost in Golb for many years, she's still in shock. She needs to readapt- he said that with a bit of sadness and then smiled again- but she's doing fine! She can blink now, that's a great advance!

Betty stood in silence, making sense of the situation. Many thoughts flew through her mind. She slowly got up and sat on the bed- I'm glad things turned out well. I feel better now K man.

-That's awesome Betty, what are you up to? Shall we go for breakfast? – he got up and clapped joyfully.

-Well…- Betty twirled her eyes- I have to go back to Ooo, you know, fetch Ice king- Betty began to change her hospital clothing to her normal rags.

-Right! Please Betty, if you need anything, anything at all, please tell me- King man placed his hands together like in a prayer.

Betty grabbed her chin as she was thinking- Well there is something, I need to use the lab…

-Sure! - he replied joyfully.

-The secret, heavy laboratory- she glared at him.

For an instant he blinked and replied- Sure!

-And all the equipment, real expensive equipment…

-You've got it!

-Amm, okay, then we're good? – Betty asked.

-No problem! Only one condition- He suddenly added.

Betty rolled her eyes- What?

-You have to have breakfast with me before you leave- he grinned.

-Oh fine- she slumped back on the bed as her head was sucked in by the pillow.

-Great! I'll give you the infamous apple of Mars!

Eating in Mars was always a pleasant activity, Betty enjoyed their food a lot. It was much different from Earth's. It had a ghostly taste, like an electric charge pumping through your veins. When King man and Betty arrived to the central city, Betty was greeted by a Mariachi band. _"A little treat from back home"_ King man whispered and blinked at Betty. Trumpets, violins, guitars playing a cheerful song as balloons and confetti flew by. The Martians waved at Betty, cheerful children ran passed her, a middle aged woman placed a flower crown on Betty's head. It was a colorful parade. Betty felt embarrassed, she had never felt the warmness of a whole community. It was a strange feeling of a famous person. She tried to escape but King man grabbed her. The people of Mars were happy and thankful for Betty's heroic acts and as King man and Betty strode to the food center, they all expressed their joy through words, gestures and claps. It was like an emperor entering the streets of Rome.

-The people of Mars hereby declare, Betty as an official Martian citizen! - King man got on a wooden table- From this moment on, she has access to any facility from the depths and the aboves of this great planet- he read from a long paper on his right hand- Shelter, food, clothes, accessories and any kind of material, Physical or magical, will be grated without cost at any time. Martian men and Martian women, give a warm welcome to our new Martian woman, Betty Grof! - King man cheered and clapped his hands. Betty turned red and her eyes became moisty.

-Thank you, all of you- Betty shyly said to whoever she could see in the crowd – But I didn't do anything extraordinary and you are treating me like, I don't know, like a really important person- the Martians didn't seem to change their minds- really it was nothing- Betty goofed around.

After eating a delicious meal, King man gave Betty an apple. It was golden and shiny. When Betty took a bite, her whole body shivered. It had a sweet taste and gave her a sudden strength, health and energy. _"It has healing properties"_ King man reminded her and gave her one for the trip. _"Use it well, they are rare at the moment, we are on a drought"._

Afterwards, Betty went to visit Margles over at King man's palace. She was being attended by the best nurses of Mars. She sat on a comfortable blue armchair. Her hair had now regained colour, and her skin wasn't that pail anymore. Betty got closer and saw her eyes. They were lost and colourless. She seemed to be in a vegetable state and yet she wasn't. Every time she wanted to utter a word, her lips would tremble, and then her neck would squeeze and eventually her whole body would twitch gently. _"She is making progress, when she arrived she was as still as a rock"_ one nurse claimed when she noticed Betty's concern.

Before leaving, they went to Betty's statue. It stood tall and flawless, made out of cooper with an invisible coating. The statue had a pose like the ones Betty made while spawning a portal. One arm in front and the other behind, legs bent like in martial arts, strong on the ground. About 25 to 30 meters high.

-Wow- Betty felt amused- this is… how I look I guess- and made the exact same pose. She kinda dug the monument now.

-That's nice! Now don't take too long, you know Ooo is not in the best of times, be very careful- King man advised with his index finger poking her nose.

-Don't worry K man, I've got this! – Betty blinked her left eye as she opened a portal faster and bigger than ever- Wow! These apples do work!

King man smiled as Betty passed through.

The great thing about teleporting through Betty's portals was that you could go anywhere, instantaneously without affecting time. The only flaw was that she couldn't teleport to a place she hadn't seen or been before.

This time, Betty teleported directly to Princess Bubblegum's castle. Earth's time was night, cold and dark. The stairs leading to the dungeons had burning wood on the walls to light the way. Betty crept down, like a spy, a fugitive, a human shunned for no reason. Her new goal was to kidnap the Ice king back to Mars without being caught. There, she would continue with her work on bringing Simon back. Betty reached the wooden door, slowly opened it and swiped inside. The citizens of the castle were sleeping on bunkbeds. The pink princess was nowhere to be seen. Betty searched for Ice king's bed and saw his blue robe all the way on the far corner of the dungeons. She floated away to him without a sound, like a feather falling from the sky. Ice King slept with his eyes opened, that creeped out Betty, he also hugged Gunther like a stuffed animal. Betty made a hissing noise trying to wake him up. Then she shook him gently. Gunther woke up, saw Betty, Betty glanced at Gunther, Gunther stayed quiet. She kept shaking him till eventually Ice king woke up in a daze. He pressed his fists against his gray eyes and saw Betty hovering above, her yellow Magic Woman hat and all.

-Am I dreaming? Are you an angle? - He said with his tone cracked.

It was things like this that made Betty lose her mind (in a good way). Every time Ice king said nice things to her, it reminded her of Simon. It made her feel he was really there. She blushed.

-It's me Simon, Betty, Betty Grof- She touched his hand.

Ice king cleared his old tired throat- Ah, it's you again, what are you doing this late awake? - he asked. He looked sane to Betty, maybe these were the hours he was normal.

Betty looked around and heard someone snore- I want to go to the bathroom, but I don't know where it is and I am scared, can you take me? - Betty improvised and made a tender childish face.

-Sure, don't worry- Ice king said and got off his bed still holding Gunther- Here, take my hand.

Gunther, Betty and Ice king flew slowly out of the place, and on to the main hall of the castle.

-Hey, lady, the bathrooms are the other way- Ice king pointed out.

Betty opened her vortex- look! - she hollered- It's a shortcut!

Ice king looked confused, thoughtful but agreed to follow her till another familiar voice stopped him.

-Stop right there! - Princess Bubblegum shouted from behind. Betty made a disgusted expression- What do you think you are doing? - She looked straight at Betty.

-I'm taking Simon with me, what does it look like? - Betty pouted.

-Well, don't- She replied. PB looked ashamed. Betty ignored her and grabbed Ice king's forearm- wait! I'll help you! - Betty stopped and turned around- I've thought about what you said the other day and I've changed my mind.

-Really? - Betty's eyes sparkled. She knew things would be easier and faster if she had her help.

-Yeah- Princess Bubblegum sighed- We'll start tomorrow, you can stay the night…- PB yawned turned around and disappeared in the darkness of the corridors.

Betty, Gunther and Ice king returned to his bunkbed where they crept under the bed sheets. It was a cold night and the wind hollered scary screams. Ice king silently snored as Betty hugged his forearm and looked straight above at the ceiling till she fell asleep.


	8. Betty's Plan to Save Simon

**Betty's Plan to Save Simon**

Princess Bubblegum's laboratory was a dirty mess. The walls were dusty, the ceiling had endless spider webs, the floor had dirt, mud and broken glass. Many chemistry equipment had broken during the war. Electric connections were dead. It had been a long time since Princess Bubblegum had done any useful experiments, still, many of the machinery worked. Betty was taken by surprise when she saw it. She didn't think it would be crashed. They had to clean it, reboot the main computers and reinstall electrical wires and light bulbs. That took all day. While they cleaned Betty explained what she had in mind. As a scientist, Princess Bubblegum understood her very well, in fact, Betty made a whole lot of sense.

-We take a chunk of skin from Ice king- Betty said struggling to mop the floor- grab a single cell, expand it and then, get a hold of the nucleus- PB listened- Once we have the nucleus, we'll extract its DNA.

-So you want to clone Ice king? You'll only make another crazy old man, you can't just clone him and expect to bring back your friend just like that- PB showed off- Although the body might be the same, the conscience wont, because Ice king is not…what was his name again?

-Simon- Betty said bored.

-Yeah, him. Ice king is not Simon. His self, his mind, everything that makes him the Simon you know, is trapped inside that crown. If you destroy the crown, you destroy him. If you clone him, it won´t be the young version of him, it'll be this old version. You'll only bring a zombie back, a body with no personality, maybe something even worse…

-Wait, I'm not done yet- Betty shook her wrist- you are totally correct. That is why we have to make some modifications, and this is where you come in- Betty said with her smart voice. PB raised an eyebrow- In theory, Simon's DNA will be drastically modified from one point on- Betty shook her head and stammered- Let me explain myself, his long string of DNA, say from the beginning, (let's pretend) it is a nice road. Straight, clean road without any cracks where cars travel- Betty looked at PB to verify her attention and continued- ok, so that nice road keeps on going and going until! It reaches a broken, ugly, dirty, cracked, messed up road, and said road continues on to the end. Well, that point where the nice clean road changes, that is the precise moment in time when Simon wore that crown and began to meddle with his DNA, thus changing him.

-Okay, so? - Princess Bubblegum deadpanned and adjusted her cleaning gloves.

-So we cut that ugly part and only keep the nice piece and use it to clone him. That way it will only have the information to make the version of Simon right before he wore the crown- she said very enthusiastic- With your knowledge, skills and technology in biology, I know we can do it!

PB changed her mood from _"bullshit"_ to _"that's reasonable"_ and made a _"you changed my perspective"_ gesture. She carefully cleaned a flask. They stayed in silence. PB still gave it thought, there was something off, she couldn't tell what untill it hit her.

-And, well, you've already told me about the physical body, consider it done, but… what about his conscience trapped inside the crown? His real essence? – She asked and crossed her arms.

Betty giggled- I thought you'd never ask! That is where my skills come into action. That stupid crown works with electrical current, just like any stinkin' piece of electronics- She pointed angrily at some computers in the lab- Simon is nothing but electrical current stored inside the crown. All I must do is transport it from the crown to his new body, cause it's the same thing! Our body works with current, we are slaves of electricity trapped inside bodies made out of different materials, but it's all the same. Gosh! I can't believe I hadn't seen it before! - She hit her head and walked in circles. PB said nothing more, she was more convinced than before. Still she had doubt in Betty's theory.

Once they finished cleaning up, PB told Betty that the process of extracting the DNA and modifying it would be fast because she had cloned before, but the growth of the body would take at least one month since it was human flesh. She also suggested that in the meanwhile, she should prepare her machine to extract Simon from the crown. Betty already had that prepared, she had it since she stole the crown once and inserted an AI of herself inside.

The next day Betty extracted a piece of tissue from Ice king's arm using her special magical knife and gave it to PB to begin the process. Then, she made a quick trip to Mars to fetch her Transmitter-Emitter circuit for extracting Simon. Before she left, she went with King man and told him what had occurred the last few days and that she'd be in Ooo until they finish recovering Simon. She felt a bit ashamed because King man and the Martians had prepared the Martian labs for her. Margles was also there, she sat on a wheel chair looking at the stars.  
Betty returned to Ooo and got an anxiety attack. She couldn't wait any longer and went straight to PB's laboratory. They began with the project straight away. Princess Bubblegum and Betty made calculations. After that, they began to do the really hard work. If PB needed a knife, an extractor, a needle, or anything at all, Betty would fetch it in a second, if PB needed light, Betty proportioned it with a lamp or using her magic. Using a screen, they were able to amplify the DNA image. Indeed, it looked just like Betty predicted. In the beginning it was nice and clean, only a small part of it and then, the rest was distorted, ugly, dark, infected, black coloured with golden lines that poked out. Carefully they removed it using PB's machine. Once they had what they needed, PB and Betty filled a huge crystal cylinder container with some chemical liquid substance. _"This is where the new body will grow in"_ Princess Bubblegum told Betty. Afterwards, the modified DNA was stored back into its empty nucleus, then back into its cell and thrown into the container. Betty gasped but Princess Bubblegum calmed her down and told her that was the procedure. That, that little piece would turn into a new healthy body, the liquid substance would serve as the provider of anything the cell needed for its growth, also as a temperature regulator. PB opened a program on the computer system on the wall and inserted some commands, then, turned on the huge container. The cylinder made a crushing sound and began to bubble wildly for a few seconds, then it stabilized. On the big screen _"0% complete"_ appeared and below a small message that read _"approximate time: 33 days left"._ They clean up and left the laboratory.

It was a hard work, they took all day and night to finish, but Princess Bubblegum's experience made things easier and faster, for she knew what she was doing. And now, it was only a matter of time, a time that would be eternal for Betty. It was the waiting game.

Every morning Betty would wake up and before anything else, she'd go to the lab and check on the cell and its progress. The first few days she'd see nothing, she even cried to PB telling her it wasn't working, and what if this, and what if that and so on, and Princess Bubblegum would cease her down and confirm everything was working just fine. After a week, the cell had grown enough to make out a small mass floating in the middle. Betty cried out of happiness and excitement.

One day, Princess Bubblegum took Betty on a small spy mission to Gumbald's territories. They saw a mirror image of her castle. The place was in ruins. She showed Betty the place where she believed Marceline was and also showed Betty the stolen Blueprints of Gumbalds empire. PB slowly became aggressive and eventually wanted to save Marceline right then and there but Betty made her come back to her senses. She reminded her it was a suicide mission, there was an entire army guarding the place, it was impossible. Princess Bubblegum ordered Betty to teleport them instead, Betty frowned and told her it didn't work that way, that she couldn't travel to places she hadn't seen or been before, and if she tired, she could end up in the void. PB had to accept her impotence and carry on. Betty comforted her by telling Princess Bubblegum that Marceline's rescue had to be done wisely and first she had to see everything from all angles and create a strategy.

Days passed and the cell became an embryo, weeks passed by and it grew legs, feet, arms, eyes, ears, colourless skin. It began to take form and Betty became happier each day. Like a mother, she would sit down next to the gigantic cylinder and lean against it. She'd tell it stories about their lives together, about how they met and all the adventures they had together until she'd fall asleep. Betty would wake up inside that laboratory, look up and see the body, each day something new was added. Like a nail or a finger. Some nights instead of talking to the body, Betty sat next to it and studied the blueprints that showed the city of Gumbald. Analyze it and think of ways to enter. Every now and then, she'd take a glance at her mind extracting device next to the computers. _"Just a few more days Simon"_ Betty would utter as she touched the crystal cylinder and stared at an almost finished clone. After a month, the skin colour had now begun to appear, that light brown colour that drove Betty crazy. The last thing to grow was his hair, it grew and grew till it took the length it had before the crown incident. A month and a week had passed and Simon's new body was 95% ready. No imperfections, no deformities, flawless, just as Betty remembered him. She was also amazed of how fast the cloning process took. Back in the day, a clone body grew slowly, like a normal human being, it would grow as the years went by, but with this new technology Princess Bubblegum created, they skipped years of studies and investigations, it was just fascinating.

Finally, one fine morning, without expectation, without anticipation, Betty wandered around the castle, aimlessly and ended up in the laboratory. She entered and saw the lab's huge screen blinking that read _"100% complete"._ Betty screamed and ran to the cylinder and there he was. Simon's new clone body in its full glory. Every inch, every molecule, every atom was there just like Betty lingered for, just like she yearned, just like she dreamed, just like she remembered. She stared at it, hypnotized by it till Princess Bubblegum interrupted.

\- Half way there, Betty. I gotta give it to you, you were right- PB patted her right shoulder and smiled as they admired the piece of art in front of them.


	9. Tannhauser: Overture & Venusberg

**Tannhauser: Overture & Venusberg**

 _-So... If our bodies function with electric current, and our skeletons are mechanical, and our ears are like microphones, and our eyes like cameras, and our nerves like copper cables... Does that make us...? - Betty asked her reflection in the mirror. It was round and it had wood around with flower designs carved on it. She had an exam in an hour. She shook her head- I rather not think about that- grabbed her bag and left her room. It was one of those days when her existential crisis was at its top. As she walked through the Superior School's halls and corridors, Betty looked at everyone she passed by. How they walked to class, chatting, laughing, without a worry in the world. She couldn't help but think how fake everyone (even herself) was. Living a life in a loop, wake up, get dressed, have breakfast, go to school, study, learn, walk back home, eat again, sleep, wake up to repeat the process, and for what? It's like a program, Betty thought. A series of code in an endless loop, an iteration, everyone programmed to do a function in this big machine. Why? Is this a simulation? Then again, if reality was a simulation, then that meant that just like in a program that you can edit it to do certain action, then reality can also be manipulated in the same way. Sometimes Betty hated thinking about those thoughts, then again she felt freer, awoken, prepared for whatever the truth was._

Betty flashed back as she got herself pretty. She wanted to look as good as possible for Simon. Today was the big day, the transfer of his essence from the crown to his new cloned body. Betty wore her special yellow suit and combed her hair sideways, just like she looked on her first date with the Ice king. Betty imagined every detail. How the transplant would be a magnificent success, Simon would slowly wake up, his sight would slowly come to phase, then she would hand him his glasses, he'd place them on and see Betty, all pretty with her special look just for him, the beautiful music of an angelic choir would make emphasis and thunderously play, they'd stare at each other and finally after years of solitude and depression, they'd romantically kiss. Betty gave a long sigh and a silly smile as she daydreamed. She glanced at her reflection on the mirror one last time. This mirror was a huge circle (like a portal) she created with her powers, quickly accommodated her hair and ran out singing passing by the many rooms of the candy kingdom castle.

First she went to get Ice King and then took him to the lab _"We are going to give you a massage"_ she tricked him as she magically charmed him to sleep and placed him on a special bed with the crown on. Betty connected the crown to her special Rx-Tx circuit as Princess Bubblegum carefully took the clone body out of the huge cylinder.

-Place him on that other bed please- Betty politely told PB. The princess did as told and placed the body on another bed on the opposite side parallel to Ice king. Betty then dressed Simon with his dark gray suit, his vest, his bowtie. Betty had gathered his clothes from the depths of his ice kingdom a few days before. The ice kingdom was deserted, intact from the war but eerie. Once everything was in order, Betty placed some helmet-like component on Simon's head that was hooked up to her Rx-Tx circuit. It had many wires all around the helmet that ended on circular sensors. Afterwards, Betty turned on the computer and prepared her program.

-Well, I guess this is it- Betty said as she looked around verifying that everything was connected. Her hands were shaking and her whole body was shivering. She felt excited but afraid, that fear you get when you feel uncertain. Princess Bubblegum noticed Betty's distress and grabbed her shoulder.

-It will work Betty, I know it will work- she said in a hopeful tone and Betty thanked her with a slight nod.

The computers were ready and on the huge screen were the words "Conscience Transplant Ready". Betty took a huge breath and slowly walked towards Ice king on the right side of the lab. He was in a peaceful dream state. She looked at him and began to sob.

-I'm sorry Ice king, I know you are unique but…- she looked at his chest, it inflated and deflated calmly with every breath- but you are not my Simon, you are just the manifestation of the crown, the crown incarnated- Betty wiped her tears off and snorted- Goodbye… Goodbye Ice king- She touched his forehead and headed to the computer's keyboard on the middle of the laboratory. She looked once more at the gigantic screen and read "Conscience Transplant Ready". Her right index finger was about to press the "enter" button when she felt a sudden dread all around her. An enormous sting on her ears, her heart paused, her stomach felt empty, her skin froze, her fingers stiffed, her ears felt more pressure, all her body hair sprung, her whole body was tingled and her balance shifted.

-Something's wrong- she said afraid and backed up, her eyes wider than ever.

-What do you mean something is wrong? – Princess Bubblegum pouted.

-Something is terribly wrong- Betty moved around uneasy, her eyes looked hopeless. She kept feeling something, something she couldn't describe; she felt death all around, like the nothingness engulfed her.

-It's going to work! Stop being such a cougar and press that damn button! - Princess Bubblegum tried to motivate Betty and crossed her arms- This is the moment you've been waiting for! Your whole life was made for this precise moment!

Betty aimlessly glance at PB, this time her face was pale and her eyes reflected the fear she had. Her lips trembled as she said- It's not this...- she looked at Simon and Ice king- It's up there...- Betty whispered and pointed upwards. PB glanced up, there was nothing but the ceiling.

-You know what, let's take a break Betty, we can come back when you are less agitated- Princess Bubblegum tried to soothe Betty down. She wasn't making any sense. Betty walked around in circles, worried, losing her balance and thinking with her frightened eyes. Something had happened, but she couldn't say what, but she knew it was important, so important that she had to postpone Simon's return.

-There is something terribly wrong in the universe- Betty looked insane, almost sick- I'll be back! - she uttered.

Princess Bubblegum saw Betty open a normal sized portal. _"She has lost it for real this time!"_ PB said to herself -Wait! What's going on? - she snarled as Betty disappeared through the portal.

Mars, the seed of life, was in an emergency state. Betty arrived in just a moment and got hit by its agitated turbulence. Martians ran around in a hurried manner in all directions. The sounds of feet stomping on the ground, screams, frightened communication and wild whistling filled the environment. The dust from the sand spread all around and the wind blew harshly. A siren blasted from a mountain, like the ones used in aerial attacks with a huge amount of decibels.  
The sense of dread again increased in Betty. The scared citizens ran around with their belongings, tripping and falling, standing up and moving fast.

 _"What the hell is going on?"_ Betty wondered and wanted an immediate answer. She glided towards the centre of the city, bumping violently onto people. She tried to ask about the situation but nobody stopped or even noticed her. She kept her pace to the city in the hopes of finding King man. People yelled just like a crowd in desperate need of help. There were also armed Martians holding laser guns and ushering the way to go to the fleeing people. The sirens sounded louder and the dust became a hurricane.

The central city was in chaos as well. King man wasn't there either. A Martian woman tripped and fell, Betty rapidly helped her up. It wasn't till then that she aimlessly looked up to the sky. And there it was, a huge red figure, far away into the universe, a small red dot in the sky, approaching in an unimaginable speed. She knew exactly what it was, Golb was coming. Betty's eyes widened even more with fear and her pupils shrunk, her body once again felt shivers all around, her heart accelerated hurting her chest, she felt a lack of oxygen so she began to breathe faster, her legs shook wildly and she fell down to her knees. Betty hadn't ever been so afraid of anything in her life till that precise moment. She tried to scream but she couldn't even do that. _"This is all my fault!"_ she thought. Betty glared back at the city and its people, then she noticed King man's palace and decided to teleport there. Betty spawned in a hall with that golden light a palace usually has. There was a long rectangular table filled with scattered papers all around. A lot of people were there also. Some sat on chairs, some leaned and others stood near. Many were divided in small groups that talked, argued, debated, thought in silence and plotted. At the end of the table, King man sat silently. He saw Betty and gave her a sad smile as she made her way to him.

-We must attack now King man! - a middle aged Martian captain said.

-No! King man listen to me, we must flee, Mars is doomed- another young politician argued while King man looked at both.

-No it is not! We have been preparing centuries for this moment! We have the best laser weapons. We will crush Golb! - said Captain man and placed his fist on his left palm.

-What? You really think we can kill Golb with that? Listen King man, please, we must evacuate the planet pronto! - politician man pleaded.

Betty reached King man and gave him a hug. Margles was next to him, she looked well and sane. She greeted Betty with a welcoming hug too. She felt surprised to Margles' fast recovery _"Martians are more advanced"_ Betty thought.

-What if we hide in the depths? - someone in the back suggested. A group of youngsters mocked the idea- Come on! It could work. The tunnels to the depths were made by our ancestors precisely for this kind of emergencies…

King man gazed and analyzed the idea, closed his eyes as he tried to focus and then exhaled. Margles grabbed his left hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Betty wasn't sure on what side she felt leaned to, the thought of facing Gold gave her no hope, hiding in the deep tunnels of Mars wasn't warranty and running away felt cheap but tempting. Still she knew her actions had led to the happenings of the moment. King man also felt guilty and looked desperately at Betty, asking her with his eyes what they should do.

-Me? - Betty asked trying to avoid the request. King man nodded – I think…- Betty surveyed her surroundings. Everyone stared at her, waiting for her to answer. She took a short breath and began- We could try to flee and hide somewhere Golb can't find us. Live to see our people grow, live to see another sunset, another starry night, eat delicious meals again, laugh and shrug this off. But, for what? We would have to runaway constantly, live a life of paranoia, dream of the day Golb finally reaches us, wake up to realize it was just another nightmare, waking up not knowing if it would be the last- most of the listeners were confused, some even murmured _"where is she going with this?"_ , Betty noticed and nervously continued- Or we could stay and fight! - She lifted her fist in the air, she somehow felt brave again- We will never know if we defeated Golb if we runaway. We don't know if we are making history right know by being here, in a universe where there are infinite amounts of outcomes, we could be one of the infinite ways of victory, or we could be one of the infinite ways of falling, we don't know, so let's find out together! For better or worse, united, strong, fierce, this is the fight of fights! To victory!

The hall became loud and angry, there was a division between the ones who wanted to face Golb with no mercy and the ones who wanted to scape or hide.

-Men! Men! Settle down- King man raised his arms- let's keep this a peaceful place! - everyone calmed down a bit.

-Well? What's it going to be? - another army man asked and everyone slowly began to unsettle.

King man looked at a screen on the wall, it displayed the image of Golb in space, getting closer and closer with every passing second. He looked at Betty, at the men and women in the hall, at Army man, Politician man and Captain man, then he looked at Margles. His eyes were also full of regret and fear. Margles held his hand and smiled. King man nodded and yelled - Martians, prepare the vessels, we are ending Golb once and for all!

The entire hall screamed in excitement, people hugged in joy, some celebrated by closing their fists and others clapped. The other few, like young politician man, shook their heads in disapproval. Betty felt death was coming, but seeing everyone together and willing to fight, gave her a bit of excitement and less fear. There was hope in the air, an energy that gave a sense of glee, the kind that makes you believe anything is possible.

-Vessel number "Phi" is ready to launch- communication began to reach the tower- vessel number "Epsilon" is ready, vessel number "Theta" is ready, vessel number "Xor" ready for lift off.

King man, Margles, Betty and others witnessed the space shuttles leave. Many ships were on the move. There wasn't many talk between King man and Betty, although Betty wanted to tell him how guilty she felt, so instead, Betty offered her help and got inside vessel number "Lambda". King man stayed in the communications tower along with Margles and other important Martians, from scientists to army men and women. The tower was like an airport one, but it had holographic television screens.

Soon, 100 spaceships were heading towards Golb whom was closer and closer. The whole fleet blasted engines through the sky, 97 of the ships had the normal strong laser guns attached and the remaining 3 had a special system integrated. The ship Betty was on was one of them. It consisted on a charging laser beam that used the stars' solar energy. Betty stood near the controls, gazed outside the windows of the vessel and saw Golb. It was massive in person. Its size was titanic, the texture of its skin was rougher and poisonous. Its eyes were as big as moons, its arms, heavy and strong and its head was like a mountain. Looking into its eyes gave you a sickening feeling, like you were about to disappear. That happened to everyone in the cabin, they began to complain they felt sick while piloting towards Golb. _"Don't stare at Golb's lifeless eyes"_ the captain of the Lambda yelled. Betty crossed her arms still looking out the windows. Noticing Golb's massiveness made her shiver and unsettle again.

-We are about to reach the 15 kilometer gap limit Captain- some short man said from the control room.

-Send the stop signal to the rest of the ships and prepare the lasers- the Lambda captain ordered. The radio signal was sent by beams of light and all the space shuttles prepared their laser canons. All one hundred stopped and then, there was silence. Everyone stood still, breathless, it seemed as if time had stopped, they waited for the captain's command to fire in the control room. Golb silently floated at a great speed towards them. There were gulps, long breathes, nail biting, shaking hands and many, many sweaty foreheads. The image of Golb was small and it grew bigger and bigger as it got closer. Betty felt dizzy. The spaceships were all aligned in a long horizontal line that curved. There was a small vibration on the ships, and it increased its amplitude as Golb travelled towards them. Something Betty noticed was that the light inside the Lambda began to fade and flicker randomly at instances.

A beeping sound of a radar was the only sound at the moment, and it got louder and faster -Fire! - the captain yelled and all 97 ships blasted huge hot laser beams. They travelled at the speed of light, colliding onto Golb's colossal red body. The string of beams stopped Golb dead on its tracks. It lifted its heavy arms and covered its eyes. Lambda began to violently vibrate like when a thunderbolt strikes. It was Golb's soundless roar. The distance between the shuttles and Golb marked 15 km on the display and began to increase to 15.5 km, 16 km and then 16.6 km.

-It's working! - someone frantically yelled from the laser room. The captain punched the air victoriously and everyone felt more confident. Betty was speechless, the lasers really worked. She stuck her face and hands against the window like an exited child that wants to see more.

-Golb is backing away Captain man! - the radio's speaker sounded and many more ships relayed the same message.

-Section "Betta", point at Golb's left hand, I want to chop that fang off! - the captain ordered. Betty looked at him and then focused on Golb's left hand. A part of the fleet aimed their lasers at its blood-red hand. The lasers blazed on it and it began to turn intensively red, then white and instants later black, carbonizing it till it burned and flew off. Golb's expression turned surprised, then painful and finally angry. This made everyone who noticed very uncomfortable. Inside the vessels everyone cheered as Golb retreated further back. Betty began to soothe, at that point, the Martians wouldn't need her help at all. Everything was working just as the Martians said. Their new technology in lasers was efficient, flawless, something new to her. She suddenly had a thought of what would happen if the humans from her era had reached that kind of technology, probably the apocalypse would of been earlier.

-Now aim at the other one! Now! - Captain man ordered section Betta through the radio transmission system. Moments later section Betta struck their lasers on Golb's right hand. Golb covered its head with that hand as it slowly carbonized and broke off like when a rock collapses into thousand parts. Everyone celebrated, even in the communications tower back on Mars. It was like when in football, your team scores. The player does an unbelievable play, kicks the round ball, flies through all the opponents, passes by the tip of the goalkeeper's hands and everyone roars victory, it was just like that in all the spaceships and Mars. People hugged, people cried in excitement, jumped around and cheered. Betty was suddenly hugged by some crew members and one even kissed her cheek. She blushed and smiled, her mind couldn't process what her eyes were witnessing so she just went along with all the happiness around. The space vessel suddenly began to vibrate wildly while Golb roared in agony. Everyone came back to their senses.

-All right, let's finish this- Captain man told his crew members- tell every element we have out there to keep striking Golb, also, give the "Sigma" command- He said- we're on the last phase people!

The Sigma command was the last striking strategy, it consisted of the special laser system only three spacecrafts had. The "Phi", the "Ohm" and the "Lambda". Gathering the solar energy sent from all the stars around, the system charges to then launch a massive blast of light. The Spaceships had been charging since they launched.

As the 97 crafts blasted their beams to keep Golb as far as possible, the Phi, Ohm and Lambda charged their laser weapons. Betty felt how the floor gently vibrated underneath her feet as energy was stored. Over at a holographic screen, Captain man gave the Phi's and Ohm's captains the coordinates to strike. _"Ohm, you strike first, right on Golb's stomach, one second after, Phi, you fire its chest and finally we, the Lambda will burn its head to ashes. We shall do this in that sequence, understood?"_ the captains confirmed and the transmission ended. Every single communication was being monitored by the communications tower. King man and the rest agreed it was a good strategy.

-My Martians! Prepare to strike! Set the Sigma countdown- Captain man yelled. The holographic screen synchronized to the rest of the ships and began to display a one-minute countdown. Once again the place got quiet and the only sound around was the ticking of the timer. Betty felt nervous and excited, although she still had that feeling of 50-50 chance. Things could go well or things could go wrong. She peered outside through the vessel's windows, Golb was being punished by the 97 constant beams of light that pushed him away. Seeing that suddenly gave Betty relief and she now felt safe and calm, so calm that she didn't notice the timer had ended and Phi's laser was sprouted out. It was gigantic, it was supreme, if it could be described it would be "Golb sized". Looking at it hurt and burned. It landed on Golb's stomach. Its eyes looked at it with foolish surprise. Then Ohm's laser flew right next to the Lambda. Its sound was absorbed by Lambdas steel walls. It had a scary sound, like a scream. It finally reached Golb's chest and it now had a fear expression that turned into a desperate one. Golb closed its eyes and like a pufferfish, Golb deflated and inflated in one second. It looked weird and unreal. It didn't help change his situation, he was still getting hit by the 99 laser beams, Betty thought, until, seconds later, just before the Lambda was about to fire, Lambda turned off.

All of its lights, computers, controls, not even the backup energy source functioned. And not only that, everyone in the ship instantly collapsed to the ground, including Betty. If that wasn't enough, this happened to the rest of the 99 shuttles. Everything was in absolute darkness. The only light visible was from the stars outside, the reflection of light on Golb and near planets. No beams of lasers were shot, everything floated without control. Betty felt nauseous, her head felt like in a drunken state, bouncing from side to side, she also had the strongest hallucinations ever. She wasn't the only one though, everyone else had them too. Her balance had been shifted also and fell almost every time she tried to stand up. She moved to the right but actually moved to the left, she tried to stand up but she actually stood down, inverted. She could see everybody else in the same situation. Some were completely lost, couldn't even talk, others wined and moaned, some talked to their hallucinations, and Betty could see a psychedelic Simon walking by like nothing. This lasted for about a minute or two. It was dark, very dark, no lights from bulbs or LEDs. Some of the crew members were recovering, wondering what had happened and as they glanced out the huge window of the cabin, they screamed in fear when they could only see a carbonized red wall. Golb was one kilometer away destroying everything around it. These screams awoke everyone from their trance, except Captain man, he had collapsed and hadn't moved since. Betty began to shiver. The crewmembers couldn't see a thing and began pressing buttons randomly, pulling levers, trying to turn the vessel back on. Nothing worked, everything was fried. There was only one thing on Betty's mind, Electromagnetic pulse.

She looked out through the window, saw Golb's massiveness and then shifted her sight to the left. Her heart punched her chest harder as she saw the spacecrafts being destroyed. Some by explosions, others were ripped apart, but the worst were the ones imploded. Like a can, crushed by an invisible force, in a sudden, shrinking and thrusting out rapidly red liquid mixed with meat that floated in bubbles around. One by one, all ships were being destroyed. Betty had to act quickly, everyone in the Lambda were anxious and occupied trying to fix the ship. Maybe she could buy them time so she teleported herself out of the shuttle surrounded by an oxygen bubble. It was then that she realized that Golb was really hurt, it had burned areas that cracked into holes, both hands burned off, it was a mess. Like dominos, the ships were being destroyed approaching Lambda's turn. Betty took a huge breath, concentrated and emitted an energy shield around her and all the remaining vessels, she then pushed them slowly back towards Mars. It was a hard task, she used all of her mental strength, it was like trying to lift a whole building with your hands. Betty struggled, grunted, moaned. Golb noticed Betty's shield when it couldn't destroy the rest of the space shuttles. It saw the small blueish shield around them, like a marble compared to Golb's size, and finally saw Betty, a small dot floating inside that energy marble.

Golb lifted its right arm as Betty and the rest of the ships desperately floated along, and smashed its forearm onto Betty's shield. It bounced off. Betty felt a huge pain on her back, as if she was being burned, she moaned in pain. All of the crewmembers of all of the protected spaceships looked at the scene. They all hoped and prayed that Betty could resist Golb's attacks and save them. Golb on the other hand, became angry and gave another hit. Betty felt that burning feeling again as Golb's forearm bounced off again. That made it angrier and began to strike with both forearms rapidly. Betty felt like she was being whipped. She screamed in agony. Her screams couldn't be heard by the viewers but were so dramatic that they could be felt. Betty began to lose energy and concentration with every whip. Her shield got weaker and weaker until she let go and momentarily fainted. Golb mockingly laughed and kicked her. Betty was shot down and like a meteorite, burned down back towards Mars. On her way down, she saw how the rest of the space shuttles were blown apart, crushed and destroyed. Before landing back on Mars' ground, Betty used the last of her strength to make a small energy shield around her to absorb the crash and then blacked out.

The communications tower witness everything. Everybody was in hopeless despair. Everything was going just as planned, perfectly calculated King man thought. Now, he had to decide what to do next. He felt everyone's eyes on him and all the tension in the room. King man looked at them, saw their worried faces and decided what to do.

-No time to lose! Prepare the ships for immediate evacuation! We are leaving now! - He yelled as he pressed a special button.

Louder sirens with a different tone began to blast all through Mars. It was a sound everyone knew but never thought would ever hear. Every citizen of Mars ran towards the spaceship port. There was panic all around, the people who dared looked above, saw Golb approaching slowly but fast towards them with a lifeless grin and aimless eyes. The special ships for evacuation were massive and were filled fast. Once full, they lifted off and heavily floated towards space. There was still a whole planet to evacuate and Golb was nearer with every second that passed. King man took Margles to the port and asked her to go, that he'd catch up with her, he was just going to get Betty, but Margles denied and preferred to go with him. So they ran against the crowd in the direction King man saw Betty land. The ground beneath them began to gently vibrate, they looked above and saw Golb was entering Mars' gravity pull. King man and Margles ran faster, holding hands until they found Betty. She laid face down unconscious at the end of the trail she left behind, like a meteor, smoke came out of the crater.

-Betty! - King man turned her around and shook her- Wake up! - he slapped her face and Betty gasped and took heavy breathes.

-What's going on!?- she yelled as her blurred sight slowly came back. She began to look around, searching for her glasses. Margles found them first and handed them to her.

-No time for questions Betty, we have to go now, every second we stay here, is a second added to an inevitable death! - King man said as he lifted Betty up using his right shoulder. Margles helped him with Betty's right side and helped carry her.

Betty felt like her senses were flying all around as they helped her walk like a wounded soldier. The last thing she remembered was seeing those ships and the Lambda being destroyed. She turned to her left and saw King man focused on going forward, she turned to her right and saw Margles, her expression was a scared one, then she looked straight ahead, they were still far from the port. In that moment a huge explosion sounded from above. They all looked up and saw that one of the fleeing ships had been hit and was now descending back to the ground. Fire and smoke came out of the middle of the huge ship. Afar people began to scream as the enormous shuttle crashed and exploded on the ground. Instants latter a second explosion blasted through the air. Another of the evacuation ships that was far away into space was blown apart and then a third one was heard immediately afterwards. Golb was destroying all who dared to enter space and try to escape.

-Golb is not gonna let us leave…- King man sadly said looking above at the huge, red, carbonized Golb. It was like looking at another planet, that covered all of the sky by its massiveness. They stopped at their feet and knelt down, exhausted and defeated. They looked at the scene and their surroundings. The evacuation crafts full of Martians, on fire slowly descending to their doom, the sound of the screams and cries of the Martian citizens that waited for the end, and the eerie silence of the violent wind that harshly blew all around, signal that Golb was entering Mars' atmosphere. The ground also began to shake, getting faster as Golb got closer. Another explosion emitted from afar, this time it was the Martian port where the evacuation shuttles were, the last straw of any hope of escaping. The fire expanded up in the air like a small nuclear explosion, red and then the black smoke filled the place. King man crawled to Margles and caressed her.

-I'm so sorry Margles, I'm sorry that we brought you back only to repeat the past- King man began to sob and so did Margles and Betty. Their strength had vanished and being on their knees was more comfortable.

-It's okay Magic man- Margles said with her crying voice- don't blame yourself for this- she softly ran her hand through king man's cheek- you too Betty- She looked at her- I know you were only trying to do the right thing, and even if it only lasted a short time, I am so happy, so happy that I got to be with you again, my beloved little cheeky Magic man- she hugged him as they cried even louder.

-I love you Margles- King man looked at her intensely.

-I love you more! - Margles replied and they kissed and hugged.

Betty felt very sad, _"So this is how it ends"_ She thought. Her eyes were closing, like when falling asleep. She also thought of how bad she wanted to save them, then how much she wished to see Simon again, that's when she remembered Simon was back on Earth, and she hadn't saved him yet, and she was only a button away from doing it. But she didn't even have enough energy left inside to project a portal back to Ooo. And even if she could, she wouldn't leave King man and Margles, there was nothing left to do but to wait. She felt helpless, knowing that it was only a matter of minutes before her and everybody's death, trapped in a place with no scape. She turned to see the far city one last time, the ground was shaking more and more. She saw her statue and gave a small mock. Then she remembered the day she saw that statue. The morning she woke up after saving Margles and had a fun day with King man. The happy Martians celebrating Betty. The delicious food they ate at the market. The infamous apple of Mars, so good. _"Wait! The apple of Mars! That's it!"_ Betty began to nervously shake and shiver and reached inside her pocket. It was a magical pocket, where you could store infinite amount of things that could fit through. It was like a door to a bank, you weren't actually carrying anything, yet you could reach out at any given moment and retrieve something out. Betty only had to think of the object and reach inside and grab it. She thought of the apple and felt it. She took it out anxiously glad, her eyes widened. King man and Margles peered at the apple, Betty looked at them with an excited grin and then back at the apple. With her shaking dirty hands, Betty wildly and desperately ate the apple in huge bites until she finished it entirely. Her whole body began to vibrate inside her. She felt an enormous orgasm and a thrust of energy. She groaned in satisfaction and levitated, glowing a golden aura around.

-I'm alive! - Betty yelled like never before and gave an evil laugh. King man and Margles looked at her with amaze.

-Betty! You can't face Golb alone! - King man told Betty who levitated peacefully a few centimeters above the rocky Martian ground.

-Do not underestimate my powers mortal! - She pointed at King man. Betty's eyes were completely white- Besides, I'm not going to fight Golb- Betty said afraid and still shaking in fear.

-What are you going to do then? - Margles asked as they slowly got up. Betty Looked at them and then turned to her left and shouted with struggle.

A small circle mirror appeared far, far away and it expanded as it got bigger and bigger. Then, once it was about three hundred meters wide, the huge mirror faded and through, another sunny land could be seen. Betty had created the biggest portal she had ever made. No other words had to be spoken, King man and Margles ran towards the city, yelling for everyone to cross the portal. The ground shook harder and more unstable. Soon enough, Martians were running through the portal as Margles and King man ushered them the way to pass through. _"Don't look back people! Just keep on running, Go! Go! Go!"_ King man could be heard yelling. A young Martian man approached King man.

-King man! - He hollered.

-Adventure man! Go! Through that tunnel Betty made! Go on! - He told him.

-No my King! I'm going to buy everyone some time with the old defense laser near the city.

-What? No, you can't! It won't make any difference, now do as I say, go! - King man looked at him with pleading eyes.

-Sorry my King! This'll be my last adventure! - He yelled as he left running in the direction of a small mount near the city, where an old laser system was built long time ago.

There was still a great amount of people that hadn't crossed to the other side and Golb was only minutes away from collapsing to Mars. Betty reached King man and Margles and helped guide people towards the portal. The wind got wilder and all the dust began to spread like a tornado. The unstable ground began to crack. People fell, got stepped on, died, and kept running through the portal.

-They have to hurry up, I'm not sure how much time I got left to keep this gateway open- Betty told Margles. King man was amazed, Betty didn't even have to focus on making that passage. Still he knew a huge amount of energy was being drained from her.

Golb was closer now, maybe a minute from collision, there were still some citizens running , less every time.

-We have to go- Margles looked up at the red sky, clouded by Golb. They all felt some sort of pressure around them and the ground began to open. King man, Margles and Betty ran towards the entrance of the portal and stayed shouting at the remaining Martians to cross. A sudden beam of light blasted from the mount where the old laser was. It hit the rocky poisonous red surface of the bottom of Golb and delayed its descent.

-Adventure man did it! - King man yelled. People ran passing to the other side, less and less each time.

They all looked at the laser beam, it didn't seem to do much, cause Golb kept falling upon Mars until finally, the loudest noise sounded from afar, Golb collapsed violently onto the surface of the Martian city. Like a meteorite piercing an old planet, all the rocky ground quaked and lifted in the air, like a tsunami, only made out of rock and ground. The biggest wave of what once was the surface of Mars, headed in the direction of the portal. They all saw it like in a cinema screen, the refugees from the inside of the portal and Margles, King man and Betty on the side of Mars. Margles and King man leaped inside the portal and shouted at Betty to follow through. Betty was hypnotized by the ground tsunami rapidly coming towards them, paralyzed. King man grabbed her by her left arm and dragged her inside with force.

-Quickly! Close the portal! - King man shouted and shook Betty back to her senses. Betty looked back at the wave, now just a few hundred meters away and then back at King man.

-But there are still people coming our way…- Betty hopelessly said.

King man looked at her, his eyes told her he was really sorry but they couldn't do anything to save them. Betty looked back at the other side, the few hundred running citizens threw their arms up and yelled for help, there were kids, young and middle aged Martians. The collapsing ground tsunami swallowed them and was just a few seconds away from reaching the portal. Everyone on the other side looked at each other, worried and anxious, wondering if Betty would close the magical portal or not. The wind passed by the gateway violently, throwing dirt and rocks, even the ground on the safe side of the portal began to shake wildly.

-Betty! - King man yelled. Betty gasped and closed the portal. It didn't close immediately because of its size, it took some seconds for it to completely close and the deadly shouts of the ones left behind flew by. The ground stopped moving. The new place they were at was at day time. Suddenly a loud and far explosion sounded from above. Everyone looked up and saw a small dot of fire in the sky, far in the universe. It was Mars. The seed of life had been destroyed, pulverized by a huge collapsing mass called Golb. Every survivor cried, sobbed and hugged. Their home had been erased from existence. It was then that they realized they were on their daughter planet Earth, to be more precise, the land of Ooo.

-What is this? What's going on!?- Princess Bubblegum appeared with an army of candy kingdom people. Everyone looked at her and Betty ran towards her. Scared, shaken and mumbling she tripped and fell.

-Go… go go… -She stammered and her eyes twitched. PB looked at her weirdly- Go go go…gol… Golb is co-co-coming! - Betty finally yelled.


	10. The Little Scientific Magical Princess

**The Little Scientific Magical Princess**

-Golb? What is that? – Princess Bubblegum asked as she looked at Betty crawling on the ground. She looked as if she had just crawled out of a chimney.

-No no… no.. nooo… no tiii… no time to ex…explain! - Betty got on her feet. PB noticed Betty's eyes twitched and her lips trembled- you see that!?- Betty wildly pointed at the exploding dot in the sky and Princess Bubblegum stared at it- you see that!? That's us in a few hours, heck! An hour at best if we are lucky!

Princess Bubblegum felt the seriousness of Betty's words and confirmed it when she saw the dreaded surviving Martians. They sobbed, some in silence, others were devastated and a vast were staring aimlessly at the sky. They were muddy and scared, just like in a war. King ma and Margles hugged while laying tired on the grass. Although PB didn't know who or what was Golb, she felt a sudden fear.

Betty slowly limped through PB's army avoiding the looks and as fast as she could. There was only one thing on her mind, Simon. As Betty crossed paths with Princess Bubblegum, the princess stopped her.

-What now? – She asked confused but Betty ignored her and kept walking in a fast pace- Hey! I'm talking to you! What now!? Where are you going!? – PB hated being ignored.

Betty abruptly stopped, it looked like she was about to reply but instead kept walking. PB was not pleased, she wanted answers, she was still in the confused state of the situation. Not having control of the unknown made her lose her mind and looking at that fire in the sky was already scary enough. She decided to follow Betty but first, she ordered her small army to assist the remaining Martians to the castle.

-Betty! Talk to me! – Princess Bubblegum ran, reached Betty and walked along her side. Princess Bubblegum voice became worried.

-Look! I already told you! If you want you and your people to live, you better get out of this planet, NOW! - Betty looked insane in that moment. She was like a traumatized soldier that had witness the worst of things. She had bruises and blood in her face, her clothes were dirty, ripped, just like a homeless, and her hair was a burned mess.

-What? - PB answered dumbfounded- Leave the planet? Why? I mean, what did you do!? How the hell are you expecting us to leave? Isn't there another way? – PB rose her arms in an exclamation manner.

-No! - Betty replied mad.

They were now approaching the candy kingdom. Nothing had changed, it was still the same destroyed place caused by the war. The cracked walls, the dirty streets and the lifeless castle. The sunny sky made it look like an epic old civilization ruin.

-No? – Princess Bubblegum crossed her arms, she was now feeling irritated by Betty's lack of words - sure there is! There is always a way!

-Listen! You don't know what I've been through, you have no idea what is about to happen, you or me or anybody or thing in the fucking universe can stop Golb- Betty began to cry- so please! Leave now! Flee while you can…I am…

-You're leaving? But…What about your promise? - Princess Bubblegum grabbed Betty by her right shoulder and pulled her back. Betty looked away, avoiding PB's eyes- you promised me you'd help me recue Marceline! - Princess Bubblegum's eyes became angry and teary.

Betty silently and sadly replied – our time has run out… I'm sorry…

-What!?- Princess Bubblegum exploded- Are you serious!? You treacherous, selfish little cougar magic woman!

-Shut up! shut up! - Betty finally looked straight at her eyes and shoved her away- Don't put that on my conscious too, I can't stand my guilty mind, everything I do goes wrong! - Betty grabbed her head with both hands and closed her eyes as she pulled her hair. New traumas were poisoning her sanity. She opened her eyes and saw that the castle was surrounded by more armed creatures – I don't remember your army being so numerous – Betty glanced curiously.

-What do you mean "numerous"? – PB focussed her sight towards the candy kingdom. She then said in an angry serious manner- Those are not my people. Crap! Those are Gumbald's allies!

Betty made a frustrated and tired expression and opened a portal and limped through. She wasn't wasting time or energy to pass through them.

-Wait! What about your promise! - PB yelled and tried to get in the portal but failed cause Betty closed it - you promised!

Betty appeared inside the lab. It was just as she had left it. The big display screen on the wall blinked the message _"Conscience Transplant Ready"._ Ice king was still asleep, and Simon's cloned body lay stiff and motionless. Betty struggled towards the computer keyboard. _"No time to lose!"_ She said to herself and without hesitation pressed the enter key to commence the transfer process. The sound of computing electronics and relays began to spread around. The transplant helmet began to flicker LEDs of many colours and on the display the message changed to _"1% data transferred Estimated time: 59mins remaining"_.

-Damn! I need just a little bit more time! - Betty frustrated and pulled her hair. The scary image of Golb's eyes looking at her made her anxious.

Betty had a change of plans. She would bring back Simon and scape Earth with him. No regrets, no looking back, just Simon and her, screw the rest. She was through with everything and everyone. Her attempts of doing things right had only led her to suffering. When was it going to be her turn to be happy? It was her chance to do what she wanted most, and what she wanted was to save Simon and live a normal life with him, and she was determined to do so at any cost.

Betty tried to concentrate and control her paranoid madness as she walked in circles through the laboratory, occasionally staring at the clone body. She then shook up when she heard the sound of screams and grunts coming for the environment outside. She thought that perhaps Golb had arrived but then she realised that it was Gumblad's and PB's army having a last face-off. Explosions, sword fights, and roars were the main sounds. The machine read _"86% data transferred Estimated time: 10mins remaining"._ Betty was amazed and relieved, she hadn't noticed that time had passed by so fast. She went to the cloned body and caressed it as she told it thoughtful things. Her inspiration was interrupted when Princess Bubblegum entered the laboratory. She panted and was in bad shape, with blood dripping from her nose and mouth. She also had cuts on her body as if she had been fighting in the brawl outside.

-Oh! So _"we don't have time to save Marceline"_ but we do to save Simon eh! - PB was very angry and violently approached Betty – you left me hanging! I had to fight my way through to enter MY CASTLE and find you!

Betty stood in silence, she knew Princess Bubblegum was right, there was no excuse, yet Betty was going to save her beloved at any price.

-Answer me witch! – PB pointed at her with a sword as she got closer to her. Betty did not show any sense of fear to her threats until the princess looked at the computer screen, then at Simon and finally at the cables on the Rx-Tx circuit.

-Please don't- Betty tried to calm PB down- You don't know what I've been through, please, I am this close! – her voice became tired.

-You should of thought of that before you double-crossed me! - Princess Bubblegum raised her sword and went for the cables. Betty quickly ran and grabbed PB's arms. They struggled to gain control. Princess Bubblegum's adrenaline rush made it harder for Betty to stop her. Then PB backed away.

-Fine! If you want it like that! - Princess Bubblegum yelled and engaged against Betty this time. Swinging her sword and cutting a slim yet harmful cut on Betty's left arm. Betty shrieked and fell to the slippery floor. PB rose her sword and swung it once again towards the cables. Betty used her invisible magic force to protect the cables as the sword hit the magic barrier and bounced upward. Betty then tackled PB to the ground. Princess Bubblegum punched her on the nose, Betty flew away and PB grabbed her sword again and stroke Betty's right leg. Betty screamed in pain as blood began to sprinkle out. PB was about to give a final deadly strike on Betty's stomach but she used her telekinesis to push her as far away as possible until she crashed on some laboratory equipment. As Betty crawled to her feet, she recited a spell to heal her wounded leg. Princess Bubblegum stood up with multiple scratches and headed towards Simon, this time she swung her sword towards the cloned body. Betty didn't react on time and screamed, a loud bang sounded and PB was suddenly taken down by something. The princess collapsed and moaned in pain. Something had punched through her waist. Betty looked around and saw someone at the door.

-Oh Bonniebel, what are you doing here while your people fight and die out there for you? – Gumbald stepped his way inside the laboratory. Betty froze. Silently she healed her leg but kept an eye on Gumbald – Why did you runaway? I was just about to show you something little princess – he slyly said.

-What is that!? - PB asked grunting defenceless pressing against her waist.

-Oh this? – Gumbald raised his right hand and looked at it amazed – This Bonnie, is an old tool that the humans used to use to kill each other- he gave a chuckle. Betty scanned it, she recognized it, a gun, to be more precise, a magnum- I found it a while ago, I was saving it as a last resource. I was sparing it just for your majesty.

Betty cautiously moved to get to Simon but was immediately shot on her healed leg. Betty felt a sudden lack of energy and stumbled to the floor.

-You stay there! - Gumbald exclaimed wickedly - I have seen what you can do- He began to walk towards Simon's resting place and the computer - _"97% data transferred, estimated time: 5mins remaining"-_ he read mockingly- How delightful and curious this artefact is - he roughly touched the helmet on Simon's head, almost pulling it off.

Betty began to sweat nervous droplets form her forehead- Hey listen, I have Nothing to do with your quarrel against Princess Bubblegum-Betty avoided looking at him to show some kind of respect, her body hair shivered- I won't cause you any trouble, just don't touch that, please.

Gumbald looked at her with an offended look in his eyes- touch what? This? - he grabbed the helmet with both of his hands, threatening to pull it off.

Betty blinked in pain and dragged herself rapidly towards him – no please! - she begged extending her hand and heard a short bang again. This time Gumbald shot her other leg and Betty lost her balance again. The pain on her legs were pulsating and burning. She began to bleed and felt more tired.

-You know, it is fascinating this machine – he showed off his magnum once again- I don't understand why no one in this era has ever used it or re-invented it. It is efficient, fast and mortal- his tone was silly- It can kill magical creatures such as yourself – his tone turned serious as he pointed the gun at Betty's face. She closed her eyes. Gumbald turned around and shot Princess Bubblegum's left hand. PB yelled as she saw her hand being blown apart. Blood began to flow out.

Gumbald gave a loud evil laugh. He was really enjoying himself- three bullets left- he said looking at the cylinder.

-Where is Marceline you son of a bitch!? - PB said spitting blood out of her mouth with a pitiful expression of suffering.

Betty glanced at the message, it now read _"99% data transferred, estimated time: 30secs remaining"._ She forgot all the pain on her body when she read that. Soon Simon would be back. She felt relieved but it didn't last much, she returned to reality and saw the grave threat Gumbald meant.

-Where is who? – He said with a fake mocking tone on his voice.

-You know who! - Princess Bubblegum coughed and began to drag her body towards the wall next to the lab's door and left a trail of blood behind.

-Oh, about that, you know, now that you mention it, it's a delightful story! You see when I found this gun- he knelt and shoved the magnum against PB's left cheek. He was interrupted when the beeping sound on the computer announced the complete transfer of conscience to the new body. Betty tried to distract Gumbald by moving around violently, yet he stared at the computer and the cloned body- What's going on here?

He walked to the table where Simon was and noticed it was slightly twitching. First his eyelids, then his nostrils, next his fingers, afterwards his mouth began to breathe. Gumbald looked at him for a while, expressionless. Betty crawled back to a spot where she could see better. Simon opened his eyes. His vision was temporarily hazy, and his voice had low volume. He lifted his torso, just woken up from a dream.

-There, there now, take it easy- Gumbald said softly as he held Simon gently.

-Who are you? Where am I? – He asked, and began to cough. He hadn't recovered completely his sight either.

-Oh how rude of me, let me introduce myself, my name is Gumbald and you are in the candy kingdom castle's laboratory – he said still holding him like an old friend. Betty felt exasperation and wanted Gumbald to take his filthy hands off.

-Is this real? - he murmured- Does that mean Betty finally did it!? - Simon said to himself with a rush of joy- Yes! My Betty! My princess! She did it!

Betty was hypnotized by her achievement. Princess Bubblegum and Betty looked at each other for a moment. Betty kept quiet, stood in motionless, she still didn't know what to do. Then Simon recovered his sight, still blurry but that was for the lack of his glasses.

-She did what my friend? - Gumbald asked. Simon looked at him, Gumbald had an innocent welcoming look on his face.

-It's a long story mate! – Simon smiled- Hey do you see a pair of round glasses somewhere around? - Simon asked as he moved his head searching.

Gumbald snapped his fingers- Lady! Are there any glasses for this gentleman? – he asked Betty while he looked at Simon.

Betty stood silent, she felt so humiliated and didn't want to receive Simon in that state. She had imagined their reunion for the first time in years differently, more romantic and happy. But now, she was all bloody on the ground with both legs shot. She used her magic to stop the bleeding yet she couldn't really do anything else at the moment. Also, time was running out, Golb would arrive at any moment now.

" _Damn it! What can I do? What can I do!? I have to do something but if I stop concentrating on my wounds, I'll bleed to death"_ Betty thought as she rapidly surveyed her surroundings.

-I said! Do you have glasses for this fine gentleman? – Gumbald asked annoyed.

-Yes…- Betty said defeated. Simon immediately recognized her voice and began to look around for her desperately excited.

-Betty? Betty! My love! Where are you!? – Simon smiled. He hadn't realized the situation they were in, for all he knew, he had just been brought back to reality by Betty.

-I'm here Simon…- Betty tried to sound as calm as possible.

-Hand them lenses over! – Gumbald demanded.

Betty reached into her magical pocket and Gumbald gave her a menacing look that relayed _"Do not fuck with me or I'll blow his brains out"_. Betty silently waved her right hand in a gentle manner to tell him to take it easy. She thought of Simon's round glasses and felt them. With shaking hands, Betty gave them to Gumbald. Princess Bubblegum leaned next to the lab's door and moaned in silence. Her face was enraged and her breaths were heavily accelerated.

-You must of been a great help for Betty - Simon said gladly while Gumbald gave him his lenses. He then placed them on and saw Gumbald right in front of him, then he looked behind Gumbald and saw Betty. She had a disillusioned look on her face as they stared at each other. She laid on a small puddle of blond and her nose also bled.

-Not quite my friend- Gumbald said elegantly - Welcome to Ooo! - he punched Simon with his gun and almost knocked his glasses off.

Simon fell off the small table he was. He saw Princess Bubblegum and recognized her. PB dissimulated a tough attitude but her frightened soul was dominating. He saw she was missing her left hand as she held what was left of it with her right hand. Simon knew they were in a dangerous situation and wondered what had happened. He then felt warm liquid in his mouth and decided to let it out. Blood showered on the floor. _"Wow, I had forgotten the taste of it, and the pain of a real body"_ Simon thought.

-As I was saying Bonniebel, when I found this beautiful work of art – Gumbald admired his magnum and walked back towards PB- I didn't know what it was, so I grabbed it, inspected it and without porpoise, I pulled the trigger- He stopped and began to laugh. Simon got back on his feet and Gumbald pointed it at him rapidly.

-Hey, relax- Simon rose his hands up- relax, I'm just standing up…

Gumbald gave a threatening look and continued pacing around the laboratory. Princess Bubblegum leaned next to the entrance, right in front of her on the opposite side, Betty rested against the huge cylinder they used to clone the body and near the computers, Simon stood quietly.

-So I pulled the trigger and boom! - He moved his arms quickly - I was surprised by what had happened and dropped the artefact. The round metal thing had landed on a wall and made a huge hole. I had never seen anything like that before, at least not in that small size- Gumbald walked towards Betty and crouched, Betty looked at the gun very scared - So then I had to test it out on other things, that's what I thought - he pointed the barrel on Betty's forehead, made a bang sound with his mouth and Betty quietly cried.

-Hey leave her! - Simon yelled from across the room. Gumbald looked back and walked towards him. Simon gulped.

-So I ordered my slaves to fetch your little friend in my dungeons – He stopped and thought for a moment- What was her name again? – He looked at PB and she snarled- Madeline? – He asked.

Simon's eyebrows arched as he asked- Marceline?

-Precisely! I have a terrible memory – Gumbald snickered and continued- Bonnie you should have seen her! I must have starved her for weeks, she was so skinny and powerless- Simon began to feel that heat on the throat when something irks you- Oh princess, don't look at me like that, don't expect a sudden rescue, no one can save you now- he approached PB and she spat at him, Gumbald made a disgusted face - I remember when we captured her,- he continued - she was saying how she was going to kill me and that she was a vampire half demon, this and that, chit-chat you know? – He glanced at Simon for a second and then back at PB – she also said that she was immortal- Gumbald slightly mocked the idea, pointed his magnum at Princess Bubblegum's face and said – Turns out she wasn't…- pulled the trigger and a loud bang sounded followed by an explosion. Betty and Simon gasped surprised and spooked. What was once PB's face was now splattered all over the wall. Chunks of brain slowly dripped to the floor and her body fell sideways.

Simon was more concerned that Gumbald had just narrated how he murdered Marceline. He felt enraged and full of hate- I'm gonna kill you! – Simon ran towards him.

-Don't fucking move or she's next! - Gumbald now pointed the weapon at Betty and Simon abruptly stopped. Tears began to run through her eyes.

They stood in silence for a moment till a small earthquake began to oscillate.

-Oh no, it's here… – Betty uttered.

Gumbald looked at her but ignored her comment. The sound of the battle outside turned silent and eventually continued. This time there weren't screams of war, but those of amusement, uncertainty and fear.

-We're doomed! - She yelled.

-Oh indeed you are- Gumbald expressed- I have won the war and now you die- he was about to shoot Betty when an unexpected event occurred.

The body of Ice king began to convulse. Everybody turned around to see. The crown was engulfing Ice king with white-grey hair in large amounts. Ice king's corpse shook around like when applying electric current till it was all covered by the hair. Long wings came out of the sides and began to fly. It looked like a gigantic white bird and its eyes were the three red gems of the crown. It roared its greatness. Simon took the opportunity to punch Gumbald to the ground and began to fight him. He exchanged all sorts of heavy words on him avenging Marceline and Betty. But then the earth shook once more and Simon lost his balance. Gumbald quickly got up and picked up his gun. The huge bird opened its mouth and emitted a horrific pitch as it prepared to attack Gumbald. Gumbald turned around and shot the thing with wings. The bullet struck it on its left gem and blasted it off. The Gem fell near Simon and he grabbed it. The white bird launched furiously at Gumbald and began to violently bite him everywhere. Some chunks of his body flew around and Gumbald cried for his life. Then the white crown bird grabbed him with its fangs and tossed Gumbald all around the laboratory. The sound of crushing, broken bones and the muffled sound of a heavy body stomping around gave Simon and Betty chills. Gumbald gave high pitched shrills until eventually, he stopped yelling. The huge bird stood still and looked at Betty and then Simon. Both were frozen.

-Do not move Betty- he whispered and she nodded. Betty had an innocent look on her face. Once, she was tough, but now, finally seeing Simon back, she felt like the hopeless princess on the top of a castle and Simon as her shining prince in armour.

The thing and Simon shared an intensively glare, as if they recognized each other. Then, the bird gave another loud cry, moved aimlessly around till it reached the wall where the huge cylinder was and began to break its way through. The wall cracked open and the creature flew away.

The ground stumbled again with more amplitude and aggressiveness. Betty chanted weird words and moved both of her hands in a circle motion above her bullet holes. The silver dots came out of her skin and afterwards her legs began to heal. It looked and sounded painful but Betty pretended it didn't hurt. Simon ran to her aid and kneeled down on her side.

-Are you all right? - he held tightly her shaking bloody hands and kissed them.

Betty shook out of her trance and stared at him. Her eyes widened and were full of love and illusion. A sudden heat filled her body. Instead of answering she grasped him, pulled him towards her and desperately kissed him with all of her might. Everything became silent, their hearts accelerated and synchronized. All of their senses amplified and every little detail was perceived by Simon and Betty. They were more united than ever. Their energy fused with each other, and as both kissed with closed eyes, they could see unimaginable colours in their minds. Betty felt his skinny body on her, Simon felt her soft hair with his hands. Both of their glasses collided and their noses slightly rubbed. And they stayed like that for what seemed seconds but were actually minutes, more than ten minutes of unstoppable kissing and caressing. The floor began to quake announcing Golb's arrival on Earth's atmosphere, Betty and Simon continued with more emotion. Parts of the castle began to fall apart, Simon told Betty how beautiful she looked. The sky turned black, Betty stared into Simon's eyes more in love than ever. A tornado outside was created, the wind blew fast and strong, many things began to fall and fly around, people screamed, but Simon and Betty kissed without a care in the world, as if it was the last time.

The strongest, loudest of low pitched roar filled the entire earth, making everything and everybody who heard it, vibrate violently. Golb's evil roar awoke them from their romantic union. Betty gasped, Simon imitated her.

-You did it Betty! You really did it! I never had a doubt! - Simon told Betty with the biggest of smiles- This is so unreal and weird, it's been such a long time, I've been waiting for this moment an eternity, you've no idea how much I've missed you my little scientific-magical-princess! – He hugged her strongly and felt her bones fall into place.

Betty began to joyfully cry. She couldn't believe Simon was back. All that suffering and lonely days, all that sacrifice she had to live through, but finally, he was here, and everything she had to go through was worth it and she would do it all over again if she had to.

-Oh don't cry- Simon also teared up- it's ok, I'm here and I promise I'll never stray off again- they chuckled- I'll never stray off again unless it's with you- he finished poking gently Betty's nose.

Betty looked at him- Oh Simon! - she kissed him once again- I love you! I love you, I love you! - she hugged him and blushed.

Another loud roar was emitted.

-What's going on Betty? Is it the end of the world? – Simon joked.

Betty gave him a guilty look and Simon got serious.

-I have done terrible things Simon, horrible things while I tried bringing you back- Betty stared out the broken wall where the gigantic bird escaped- things that can't be fixed no matter how optimistic.

Simon looked at her with sad-understanding eyes- Hey, don't you know it's gonna be all right? - he smiled and grabbed her chin. Betty gave him a sly smile – Whatever it is, we'll face it together, you and I, come what may- Simon held her left cheek with his right hand. Betty nodded feeling a little less guilty- Now come on, get up- he cleaned her falling tears and her face with a cloth. Simon got on his feet and helped Betty up. Her legs were still numb and she stumbled but managed to walk- You still have to tell me all about the adventurous ordeal you had to go through to bring me back, how did you do it? - he chuckled. Maybe he was too innocent or wasn't really in his full senses to realize that indeed, the world was about to end.

-Simon wait! - Betty spontaneously cried. Simon turned around and asked her what was the matter – We HAVE to leave, now!

-Leave? So soon? – he goofed around.

-No, really! We have to go NOW! – Betty grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

-What's going on Betty? - Simon asked as they hustled out of the laboratory. Another loud roar shook all the castle.

-I summoned an unstoppable force and it's about to destroy the world! – Betty increased her pace and pulled Simon harder. Simon perplexed and couldn't come up with an answer for her claim – I'll tell you all about it once we get the fuck out of here! - Betty regained her danger notion and braveness. Simon was being dragged by the hand like a little child. The corridors and the castle in general caught fire – We are not dying here! We are just simply not! I'll get us out of this mess! – Betty began to run when the castle began to break down.

Simon looked at her, like a boy would look at his mother and simply said - …Okay…


	11. Eclipse

**Eclipse**

\- Turn around and leave Gumbald! – Princess Bubblegum yelled from afar.

Her chest felt more pressure, like an unknown force overtaking her as she saw Gumbald's army surrounding the candy kingdom castle. The sky was sunny companioned by a light wind. She had forgotten how beautiful the kingdom looked without the energy shield around it. Then she remembered she was casually walking through the balconies of the castle when she noticed a huge portal and many people desperately running through. PB gathered her people and went to see what was going on, just for security purposes. She entered a code on some device and deactivated the security field that protected what was left of her city. It was such an alarming situation that she forgot to reactivate the security system. Just remembering that, made Princess Bubblegum feel so stupid and irresponsible. And now, Gumbald had taken advantage of that and had the high ground, prepared to attack.

\- I said, turn around and leave! This is my last warning! – Princess Bubblegum bluffed trying to sound as menacing as possible, yet, deep in her thoughts, she knew she wasn't fooling Gumbald, but also, she was stalling and buying sometime until her people, allies and Martians caught up to her.

The castle was about half of a kilometer away. Gumbald's people were aligned side to side, making a huge wall of violent warriors ready to clash.

\- This is it Bonnibel! – he placed his hands next to his mouth to amplify his voice – It's over! I have taken over your kingdom! Be reasonable!

PB surveyed her surroundings, searching for something useful to use as a weapon. She glared back and saw her small army and the surviving people of Mars reaching her spot in a slow pace. Everyone looked tired. Not the physical exhaustion, but the mental kind. Most of her people had sad faces, and the Martians had many kind of expressions. Ones cried, a couple had inexpressive motions and others simply looked at the sky to that fiery dot in the sky. None of them, including the candy kingdom citizens, had noticed the situation yet. The princes stared back towards Gumbald and his infantry. _"Damn it! How could I be so stupid and not reactivate the security fields! Fucking stupid!"_

\- Listen princess! I'll be the good guy here and let you live only and only if you surrender now! – Gumbald continued. He had a serious look in his face. PB couldn't really tell if he was lying or speaking truth. His words flew the distance between them through the air just as her troops and the survivors finally reached her coordinates.

\- What is going on princess? – Cinnamon Bun asked. He wore a shiny knight armour and he rode on his trusty giant wolf creature. PB didn't look at him as she told him to prepare everybody for battle. Cinnamon Bun made a 180° turn and played some type of horn that emitted a war-like sound. Everyone bumped onto each other as they aligned in combat mode.

Ever since the war and the first combat Princess Bubblegum and Gumbald had, PB had made a new law, "no one could leave the castle without a whistle and a weapon". Good call, otherwise, no one would of had anything to fight with at that moment. The disturbed citizens of Mars were dumbfounded, looking around at each other, confused by the scene. They had just come from a disaster moments back and now they were about to experience another catastrophe.

King man sighed to his people as he walked towards the princess.

\- Hey, I see you are the one in charge here, - King man tried to communicate with her in the most delicate manner. He took his hat off and continued but was immediately interrupted by her.

\- Please, help me, help us, you and your people, we will not withstand another attack, this is it… please – Princess Bubblegum looked at him. PB wasn't much of a talker, but her eyes reflected what her feelings couldn't with words. Her eyes pleaded with great horror. Her troops weren't as numerous as Gumbald's, but the survivors of Golb were.

King man noticed her hopelessness, looked at the blue atmosphere, the rests of Mars could still be seen through the blazing smoke clouds. They didn't have much of a choice and even though it pained him deeply, he nodded, flipped around to face his community and Margles – My Martians, it looks as though we are stuck in another unfortunate event, and I am truly sorry but, grab anything you can to protect yourselves, prepare to clash! – He called out as he knelt down and grabbed a stone the size of his whole palm. They gasped and did as told. From children to elders with terrified, scared expressions, after all, they were only normal citizens. Only a handful were surviving soldiers with laser tech guns. Such soldiers got in front of them grasping their laser weapons.

A fit soldier approached king man and gave him his laser rifle – This is for you my king – he handed it to him and re-joined the formation. King man thanked him and faced the opponent side. The huge amount of people on Gumbald's side amused him.

The sky was blue, peaceful, many birds flew by, chirping, like a normal day, but bellow, both armies glared scornfully at each other. Gumbald's nation began to chant a tough intimidating marching tune that frightened Princess Bubblegum's infantry.

\- I will not surrender! – PB hollered back, now confident surrounded by her allies.

\- As you wish your highness – Gumbald muttered to himself. His head turned around – my people! My blood! This is our big chance! For Gumbaldia! Engage! – Gumbald shouted with all of his might, lifted his sword and everyone ran against the enemy side.

PB's side was about to run as well but were stopped by her – Let them come to us! – she ordered as she waved her arms back – Archers! Take them down!

The unexperienced section of archers, formed by some survivors of the first wave of attacks of the war, stepped into action and began to shoot their arrows. Many arrows flew in the sky, some far away, other not so much and only a few landed on targets. The Martian special forces rapidly spread around and began to blast their lasers.

Gumbald's side didn't hesitate and also replied with thousands of arrows hitting and killing more. They had more training and Princess Bubblegum noticed it. She ordered everyone to move and fight. Soon, both enemy sides collided with each other as they fought for their lives.

Princess Bubblegum picked up a bloody sword from the ground that had once belonged to one of her banana soldier guards and with a scream, joined the brawl. King man stood on a strategic hillside along with army men and sniped from afar. Gumbald aggressively swung his sword killing anyone that stood in his way. It was a battlefield. Rocks and explosions burst out, swords clashed, spears and arrows flew everywhere, screams of pain and death sounded from all directions. Enemies from both sides were murdered by all sorts of tools. Daggers that stabbed to death, flying creatures that spat fire and burned to ashes everything they came by, gigantic rock monsters that crushed with their bare hands, others shattered by a creature that used ice powers. Many had their arms, legs or heads cut off too.

Cinnamon Bun raged against his foes while all the arrows that hit him, flew off from his armour, deflected. He moved fast with his trusty creature friend and was a great warrior until, a magical creature, faced him. It had a black hood on and it had a tail. It looked like a brown dog standing up. Cinnamon Bun grunted as he charged, but this mysterious creature used a magical spell and divided Cinnamon Bun into half.

What once was a green field full of flowers, was now a red and black camp with tossed cadavers and limbs. The sunlight beamed through the edges of a cloud, giving it a small tint of orange. No mercy was granted to children. Everyone defended themselves as they could.

Princess Bubblegum was agile, fighting her way towards her castle. She unleashed her anger upon the hostiles. She jumped, slashed, grunted, kicked and punched. Shifting through.

\- Hey princess! – Gumbald hollered in a mocking manner. He stood still about ten meters away. He also wore a silver with copper armour that looked heavy and resistant. It made clicking noises as he walked towards her – Are you ready to die? – he smirked.

PB glared at him and prepared her sword. Her eyes were full of hatred and her grunts were like a furious lion.

\- What's wrong? Haven't you got something sassy to tell me? – Gumbald stopped three meters away from her while he waved his golden sword in a lazy manner – Fine then! Have it your way – He continued and took small steps forward – Nobody will know your name when I'm through with you – he said angrily. Princess Bubblegum snapped and made the first move. Gumbald covered himself with a wooden shield held by his right arm. He counter attacked and PB blocked his swing with her rusty bloody sword. Their hands felt the pulsating vibrations on the handles. They made eye contact, it was evident that Gumbald was stronger. PB jumped back with an exhausted moan. Gumbald took the opportunity to make a combo attack, swaying elegantly his blade. PB could hardly keep up and yelled violently when she attacked back. Gumbald avoided her aggressions using his shield till it broke apart, then he stepped back rapidly.

\- You broke my shield! Wow! – He shouted amazed.

\- Shut up all ready! – PB screamed and continued to give stabbing motions. Gumbald shifted to the side and as Princess Bubblegum passed by, he grabbed her by her long pink hair. PB was pulled back while she wailed and gave random swings of her sword, trying to strike Gumbald. He mocked her, gave her a hard kick in the ass and she slumped away.

The riot crowd around them noticed their battle and made a circle around them to watch the encounter. Most were Gumbald's men and women who were cheering for Gumbald.

PB stood her ground and waited for Gumbald to strike. Eventually, he did, and every time, PB deflected his attacks. With every block, she felt more energy being drained from her. There were yells like "Finish her Gumbald!" or "Come on princess, you can do it!" or mocking laughs and nasty words whenever PB did something. Gumbald and Princess Bubblegum stopped and took a moment to stare at each other while the sound of battle surrounded them. The princess panted.

PB felt it, this was the end. The next move determined who lived and who died. Her sweaty hands hurt, her upper arm felt more heavy, as if she was carrying stones and her breaths were sloppier. She grasped her sword tightly and gave a battle of roar as she lifted her sword to the sky. Gumbald ducked and instead of stabbing her, he punched her stomach as hard as he could. The helpless princess lost all of her air stored in her lungs. Then, using his elbow, he smashed it on PB's spine and in an instant, Princess Bubblegum fell flat to the muddy ground.

Everyone laughed at her as she anxiously crawled around, desperately trying to breathe. Gumbald turned around to face her and prepared his sword for the final killing strike. He made a sudden disgusted expression and asked – Have you… - He looked at her, his attitude suggested he was offended by her sole existence – have you got any last words? – he lifted his arms and waited.

PB spat blood from her mouth. She grabbed some dirt and grass from the ground and threw it at his eyes. He moaned unpleasantly and while everyone was distracted by what had just happened, PB got up and ran away towards the castle.

\- Agh! That little cunt! – Gumbald ranted.

\- You there! – a slim grey humanoid creature pointed at a group of archers from Gumbaldia – prepare your arrows! – he ordered.

\- No! stop! – Gumbald coughed while cleaning his eyes – That is not necessary gentlemen, I will go get her, she is mine! – He looked insane.

\- Understood my lord – the archers yelled all at once.

Gumbald glanced at PB who was now very far away, entering the castle – This is her end, finish this up while I go kill the "princess". When I come back, I want this war won and Bonnibel's army surrendered or dead, you hear me!? – Gumbald told some strong looking Gumbaldian.

\- Affirmative my lord! – he bowed down a bit and Gumbald headed towards the far castle.

The war continued. The screams of pain and clashing metal were the basic sound of the battle. Magical beams were also casted by magical creatures. Balls of fire flew randomly. There were all sorts of creatures in the brawl. Magicians, dragons, slime monsters, gigantic birds that spat water, gigantic worms that emerged from the depths and swallowed anything they reached. There was a group of robots made out of strong metal. They were invincible to a non-magical creature. Those with electrical powers were able to burn their interior circuits and stop them. The Gumball guardians kicked every enemy in sight. Their giganticness made them an almost impossible target to defeat. Abracadaniel casted colourful spells that worked effectively against Gumbaldian people. He would speak riddle-like words and spawn a rainbow light that knocked out any opponents that took a glance at it. On one of those attacks, Abracadaniel noticed a crying child rubbing his eyes. He had a robotic arm, long blond hair, blue-green skin and a pink shirt. Abracadaniel ran to his aid.

\- Ah! My eyes! – wailed the boy.

\- Hey are you ok? – Abracadaniel knelt and shook his shoulder.

The boy turned around and with an evil grin, stabbed Abracadaniel with a small dagger right through his stomach.

\- Got ya! Gullible prick! – Tiffany quickly stood up and ran away with an evil rascal laugh.

A few feet away, a battle to the death had commenced between Rattleballs and Bandit Princess. Both jumped high like ninjas, swinging their weapons at each other. Rattleballs was smooth and fast. Bandit Princess perceived time in a faster manner, so every attack by Rattleballs looked slower to her and could avoid any attempt of murder. Bandit Princess stepped back and searched her small sack. _"Humm, sticky bomb…"_ she felt a round sphere. Rattleballs engaged to cut off her arm but Bandit Princess leaped high on the air and threw a sphere that hit Rattleballs on the face and exploded. A yellowish component began to engulf Rattleballs, and also some other unfortunate warriors near, to the ground.

\- What is this!? – Rattleballs shook trying to free himself.

Bandit Princess laughed madly – Oh just something I "found" in one of my trips to the old world – She walked slowly towards him – Now let's see, where did I leave you – She uttered while she looked for something else in her brown sack – Ah ha! Here it is – She took out a small covered flask.

\- What is that!? – Rattleballs kept struggling to move.

\- Shut up and enjoy! – She gave him a slap and pored drops of the liquid onto the yellowish goo.

The yellow component that stuck Rattleballs and the others to the ground, began to turn into another substance that melted everything it got in contact with. Rattleballs screamed and Bandit Princess enjoyed the scene.

Me-Mow slashed from one foe to the other, like a pinball, she bounced from one kill to the other. Her speed was incredible, like a bullet. She was the last thing her victims ever saw.

\- Wow look at that! – King man said to his soldiers and pointed with his right index finger – if she continues, she'll take out everyone single-handed.

Just as he was saying that, like a psychic call, Me-Mow looked straight above at them on the distant hill. She shifted rapidly through the raging crowd towards them.

\- Crap! She's seen us! Quickly! Attack formation omega! – King man yelled and everyone hid.

Me-Mow arrived at the hill and began to sniff – where are you little man? – she mocked King man – I can smell you – She said wickedly. Me-Mow slowly crawled towards a bush, grabbed it and pulled it off the ground – There you are! – She victoriously said while king man crouched.

King man looked at her and crawled back - Take her out! – King man gave the order and took out his laser rifle. Me-Mow felt confused. The Martian troops stood up in an instant from their hiding place that surrounded Me-Mow and King man in a circle. And without letting Me-Mow say any last words, they shot their laser beams all at the same time and didn't stop until she was burned down to the ground.

The sky slowly darkened, gloomed by an enormous shadow that swallowed the roundness of the world. It was such a strange and weird transition that every single creature on the battlefield ceased their activities and directed their sight to the sky. It looked as if a meteor was on its way, a red rock falling slowly upon them. It looked like a red block frozen in the sky, though it was heading towards them. Every second that passed, it got closer and bigger, but very slow. All sound of war was put to mute, and instead, the sound of wind maintained followed by the murmurs of everyone. They wondered what that thing in the sky was. Gumbald and Princess Bubblegum allies came together and exchanged opinions on what they thought was happening. Some sat down looking above and studied the phenomenon. A rumour occurred relaying the word that it was a meteor, that it might hit the planet or miss. Everyone payed attention to the blue. Everything and everyone dropped their weapons and froze.

" _Oh no, it's here!"_ king man said in his mind and glance at Margles. She was hypnotized by the distant silhouette of Golb. He realized Margles was startled, even his army men were shaking. It was then that he realized he hadn't seen Betty in the battle. Where was she? He wondered. He knew he had to warn everyone, but even if he did, what could they possibly do about it? He looked around wildly and saw someone familiar walking towards the silent spectators. King man ran as fast as he could. _"Is it him? But… where is…I mean, they were always together…"_ King man thought as he got closer to the main battlefield. Everyone he passed by looked at him for a brief moment and turned back to watching the still falling rock.

\- Hey! Hey you! – King man yelled as he bumped onto a Gumbaldian – Hey Jake! Jake the Dog! – he finally reached him.

Jake turned around and saw him. He greeted him with a moderated smile. It reflected a regret of being there but obliged to. Jake also looked sad and tired – Hey king man, how's it going? – He said trying to sound as normal as possible.

\- What are you doing here? – King man asked.

\- Well… - Jake looked around fiddling his toes – I heard a huge noise and I noticed that thing in the sky, so I… I decided to come and see what was going on… What is going on here? – He asked pointing everywhere.

\- Jake that is not important now, what is though, is that we have to do something about that! – King man pointed at Golb and repeated himself to everyone around. Jake made no expression, but people around began to wonder what king man was saying.

\- Do you know what that is? – a humanoid pig appeared out of nowhere and others got closer.

\- Yes, it's the end of times if we don't unite and stop it! – King man began to lose his sanity. Everyone gasped.

\- Bla bla bla – Jake carelessly replied – It's always something like that and at the end, turns out to be defeated by some stupid way, no matter how threatening or evil, it's always defeated in a dumb way – Jake scratched his butt.

\- Not this time Jake, that thing destroyed Mars, and we attacked it with everything we had and barely made a scratch – King man grabbed both of Jake's shoulders and shook him like a mad man. Jake stared at him and yawned – Damn it Jake! Where is Finn? You never took things seriously. Where is Finn? He'll listen.

Jake suddenly fell back to his senses. He crouched his head and made a mature sad expression – Sorry man, man, man, king man – Jake avoided eye sight and committed to King man's warning.

King man spun in circles and then began to tell everyone around – That thing in the sky is no meteor, it is an ancient creature, an unstoppable force, and its name is Golb! It destroyed our home Mars moments ago, and now it's coming here – Margles and her soldiers were just arriving at the scene. King man got on top of some stone on the ground and continued as he looked at everyone on the battlefield – We have to unite! Unite forces, abilities, magic, everything, leave our differences aside and stop Golb! – His words reverberated through. Every single warrior, magician, candy citizen, robot, animal, giant, Gumbaldian, tree creature, were now paying intent attention to King man. Murmuring now and then. Agreeing and disagreeing – We don't have much time! - King man yelled.

A moment of silent passed by and someone on the distant crowd asked – oh yeah? and how will we stop it?

King man looked around and placed his finger on his forehead. He couldn't think of anything. The wind and the quietness of the moment made him remember the dread they had just experienced back on Mars, and it was repeating itself. Margles stepped in and asked as loud as she could – Does anyone have magic powers?

It took a moment but eventually some began to raise their hands.

\- Okay, good! – Margles clapped her hands nervously – well maybe you can create a force field around the planet? – Margles stammered at that last part. At this point she was improvising.

\- We can't do that! That's insane, out of our power – Laser Wizard pouted.

\- Yeah! – Forest Wizard agreed angrily.

Margles couldn't handle the situation and suddenly everyone started to argue with each other. King man couldn't control them anymore and decided to talk to Jake again. Jake grabbed his chin seeking a solution. His thoughts were interrupted by a voice that gave him an instant feeling of melancholy.

\- Jake! – BMO yelled. Sat on Huntress Wizard's left shoulder.

\- BMO! – Jake happily gasped as both ran to hug each other – Wow long time no see! You too Huntress Wizard! What are you doing here?

\- Hi Jake, well, I was summoned by that explosion in the universe. It gave me this horrible vibe, so I decided to come here for answers – She looked without blinking at Golb. It was now more visible. Its legs and triangular face was more noticeable – by the way, where is Finn?

Jake's happiness flushed in a second.

\- Yeah, where's Finn, Jake? – BMO asked and showed a question mark on the display.

Everyone looked at him, including Margles, even though she had no idea who they were talking about. Jake felt their eyes luring him to pressure. He gave a loud and sad sigh and began – _it was in the first battle between Princess Bubblegum and Gumbald. Finn tried to fraternize and stop the war. He was so committed, he never wanted a war to happen. Anyway, PB didn't agree and continued with her plan. And Finn, loyal as always, fought for her. We fought side by side, just like any other adventure, like old times. He fought with his infamous sword. I began to feel sick, because, you know, people were actually dying, for real. I remember I saw Finn behind me. He was fighting fiercely against Fern, so I left him to do his thing, you know, they had issues to solve, so I just kept fighting. Next thing you know, I take a glance back to check up on Finn and I don't see him. So I'm like, he must have wandered around with all the fighting and stuff. So I shout out for him but he doesn't answer. Everybody was slashing around and grunting and all I can hear are the screams of war. I get worried and start sniffing around for him. Until I find him. There, on the ground. At first I think he must have fainted or is knocked out. I grab him and try to wake him up but he wouldn't move. Then I feel blood on my paws and in that moment I knew he was dead. I cried and cried for help. Nobody even noticed his death. They were all so occupied with their stupid war. It was then that I had had enough of adventures. This wasn't an adventure anymore, it was a war! Reality hit me. I took his body and left far away, far away from this land and buried him. I became an outcast. I promised myself to never ever seek an adventure again. I lost my best friend, my brother… I didn't even know if Fern killed him or if it was someone else…_ \- Jake finished and sobbed in silence and so did BMO.

Huntress Wizard looked pained and after some silent time she spoke – I don't know if Fern killed him, but if it helps... I killed Fern back on that war… so… - Jake looked at her for a brief moment but said nothing.

The sky was slowly getting darker, but there was still a good amount of daylight that made its way through. A loud trumpet sounded from a distant hill to the north west. Everyone directed their attention towards it. It was Flame Princess and her blazing army. They were vast in numbers, menacing and prepared. With many fiery swords, spears and carbon armour. They made their way down splendidly towards the field playing their horns. It looked like they already had a plan and were forming in a strategic formation.

\- It's Flame Princess! – Jake snapped – Let's go king man! You have to tell her what's going on! Come on!

Jake and the others ran through the army crowd towards Flame Princess and her flame people. When they reached her, Jake called out to her. Her guards instantly blocked the way. When she noticed Jake she told her guards to let them through and King man began to explain everything to her. She had a concerned look in her eyes when King man finished.

\- It is harder than I though – she said thoughtfully – I thought it was an invasion or something like that. That's why we came – Flame Princess stared at Golb – Hold on, I'll make a call, we're gonna need as much help as we can. Flame Princess took out a phone and dialled a number – Hello? Patience? It's me FP, no time to explain, get to the Candy Kingdom ASAP! And bring Slime Princess!

 **Atom Heart Mother**

The Gumball Guardians stood gigantically stiff while they contemplated Golb. The ground shook softly as the figure of Golb started to enter the distance of the moon. All who felt the small quake shouted in fear. Then a sudden cracking sound exploded from the castle. Jake and others witness how a gigantic silver bird flew through one of the structures of the candy kingdom castle. The field shook once more, with more violence. Everyone screamed in fear. Some people got up and slowly walked backwards till they just ran away. All magicians got together and began to chant some weird words. A medium size sphere spawned and got bigger and bigger as they casted the spell. Flame Princess ordered to prepare the flame cannons. A knight with a black armour and two black horses that pulled a two wheeled carriage, stood still. Bandit Princess looked around desperately for something in her sack. King man prepared his soldiers and what was left of his people. Huntress Wizard gathered some flying creatures and beasts. _"Send the distress signal! Tell EVERYONE what's going on! Bring as much help as you can."_ She looked at all of them with an inciting look on her eyes. _"GO! GO! GO!"_ she shouted as they flew away. An unexpected flash lightened as Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant arrived out of nowhere.

\- We heard there was a w… - It shouted but choked on its words when the elephant saw the enormous size of Golb.

The ground slowly and then rapidly, began to quake as Golb entered the atmosphere. Every single living being there panicked into a frenzy. The sky turned black and then, a large black tornado generated afar. Sucking everything on its path. The wind got heavier, and dirt, rocks, trees, grass flew violently everywhere. Golb peeked down upon the world. His four yellowish numb eyes paralyzed anyone who dared to look at them.

\- Fire! – King man shouted and his soldiers began to shoot their laser rifles. To no avail, such laser beams where lost in sight as they hit Golb. The magicians' sphere was almost ready to be launched, and the flame cannons needed Golb to be closer to actually hit it.

Jake looked at Golb, hypnotized by its size. He was thinking if he could actually become his size. He had never tried it before, but deep inside he knew he couldn't enlarge himself as much. He had to act fast though, for in just a few moments Golb would collapse onto the surface like a meteor. He ran quickly as he got bigger and bigger. Everyone on the field were amazed by Jake's transformation.

\- I'll stop it! – Jake shouted. He reached one third of Golb's total mass and couldn't stretch more. _"Well, I guess this is as big as I get"_ he thought to himself. Golb was just a few seconds from clashing down – This is for you Finn! – He yelled secured and with both of his hands, he reached out to Golb and held its bottom body. Jake felt Golb's mass and speed pushing him down. _"This is heavier than I thought!"_ Jake gritted trying to decelerate Golb. Then Jake felt Golb's body poison him as some kind of liquid made its way through his system. _"I didn't think this through!"_ he thought as he felt Golb slowly crushing him to the ground. Jake changed colours, from yellow to blue and back again to yellow and then blue. His muscles felt numb. Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant flew to his aid and blasted a powerful pink beam on Golb. Jake barked in struggle. Next, another white beam formed by the magicians elevated to the sky hitting Golb. Golb Emitted a loud growl that made everyone and everything vibrate. Then, Flame Princesses' cannons blasted its orange fire against Golb. Golb let out another heavy roar as its acceleration came to a complete stop. Jake was now carrying Golb. There was no risk of meteor-like end of the world anymore. He felt dizzier and weaker. He could hear shouts telling him to get out. Jake's sight got blurry. He tried to move but Golb's heavy body pushing down upon him, made it impossible to even move his feet. In addition, his whole system was full of Golb's poison. The Gumball Guardians ran into action and tried to carry Golb too. They weren't strong enough and one of the Gumball Gardians' wrist broke off. Jake fell to his shaking knees first and finally let out a high pitched wail as Golb overwhelmed Jake, landed on earth's surface and crushed Jake bellow him. Everybody gasped and the ground shifted.

The sky was dark, the tornado spun around, dirt and nature flew in every direction. Golb was gigantic, it looked down upon the ant-like figures, its eyes widened and gave an angry cry, creating a pandemonium.


	12. Atom Heart Mother (Part 1)

**Atom Heart Mother (Part 1)**

\- Come on, this way! - Betty ran as she dragged Simon by the wrist. The inner walls of the castle cracked and slowly fell to pieces everywhere. Betty shook her head in a desperate manner, she looked around for something. Her eyes were full of disorientation and she couldn't decide where to go next. All the commotion made the castle feel like an endless maze. Her hand let go of Simon and began to smack her forehead - Where could it be? – the sorceress uttered agitated.

\- What? Where's what Betty? - Simon grabbed her shoulders. He felt a scary sensation of electrical pulses running through his veins. Betty turned to him, escaping from her thoughts – Princess Bubblegum once mentioned a hidden chamber, meant only for a real emergency, like, end of the world emergencies - Simon nodded inciting her to continue - a chamber where a spaceship is kept, with all the resources necessary to survive for a vast amount of time! – Betty explained moving her hands from side to side.

Simon grinned and replied - Oh Betty! That's great! Just relax for a moment and remember where it is, it's all fine, don't look anywhere else but my eyes – he tried to soothe her down - concentrate and remember, where is it? - Betty sadly looked into Simon's eyes. Her eyes focused through her dirty lenses.

\- I don't know where it is! - she confessed and moved her head in confusion.

\- What do you mean you don't know? - he shook wildly Betty's shoulders - but you just said she told you about that place!

\- No! I was eavesdropping! – Betty covered her eyes in shame - I only heard her mention it to one of her guards - Simon began to slowly laugh nervously. She looked at him with a gloomy expression.

From above, a piece of ceiling crumbled and fell towards Simon. Betty screamed and pushed him far away. The structure collapsed hard on the floor, made out of robust rubber, and broke into smaller pieces. Simon landed near a huge broken window. Outside that window, grey clouds floated in the black sky. Thunder flew about along with tiny particles of land, trees, structures and creatures that spiralled in the air.

\- That was a close one! - Simon said with dry coughs. His left leg tingled as he got on his feet. He also dusted his jacket and pants - then let's search for that place - he said stepping over the heavy structure that had fallen before - but we better hurry – he said looking at the upper corners of the corridor they stood at - this place is about to collapse.

Betty nodded and looked around again. A chandelier swung from one side to the other on a hall to her left. Straight ahead, a dark passage, with paintings and pictures hanging on the twisted walls, taunted her. She hit herself again, blaming her lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of the secret place. _"Crap! If only I knew where it was I could teleport us there"_ she thought. The floor made a sudden crunching sound and Betty decided to go to the hall on her left. She grabbed Simon's hand and once more, dragged him like a rag doll.

The lights were low, turning brighter and lower, on and off randomly. They stood wandering around for a while, deciding where to go next. Simon poked his glasses back in place and suggested that if there was a spaceship, and it wasn't outside, then it had to be underground. Betty agreed, but the only place she knew underground, was the dungeon, where the remaining Candy kingdom citizens slept. She denied the idea of the dungeon, she remembered very well that place, and she was sure there wasn't a hidden passage to a secret chamber. _"There must be another passage to descend underground"_ she concluded. The floor had a slight shift of place and the chandelier came flat down, breaking into thousand pieces. Betty inclined to leave it all to probability and again, grasped Simon and ran off to where ever her intuition led her. Passing through rooms, corridors, narrow ways and walls with huge holes on them, burning living rooms and guest rooms with endless cracks. Sudden explosions blasted from closed doors every now and then. But they pushed through, deeper and deeper. Then, there was a huge roar outside. Simon stopped and covered his new ears. Since he had never used them before, high decibels were like knives piercing his eardrums. Betty also protected her ears, the pressure was enough to make anyone deaf.

\- What the hell is that!? - Simon yelled, covering his ears and looking scared at Betty.

\- It's Golb! That's what we are running from! – She reached her hand out to him – take my hand, come with me! - He looked at her. His fear spread all around his face. It was then that Simon realized the seriousness of the situation they were in. Whatever made that sound had to be immense. He took her hand and ran along with her through the mazes of the castle.

It must have stood still for about a minute since it landed on Ooo, the only thing that moved were its numb yellow eyes. Contemplating the small ant sized creatures that yelled in fear. Golb sat with its legs spread on the ground, its arms didn't have hands, instead, it looked like they had been blown apart. Its chest was black, as if it had been burned. Huge, building sized yellow blocks floated in circles around Golb's head. Golb let out a hissing sound that made everyone defenceless.

King man and his men stood silent, frozen in terror. BMO cried as Margles held BMO, trying to console it. Flame princess glared at Golb, and the magicians began to chant a new spell. Huntress wizard made her way through the spectators. Everyone was in a battle position, a mixture of candy people, Gumbaldians and other magical creatures united finally as one. The knight in black armour stepped off his carriage and walked towards his two black horses, looking above at the colossal Golb. The fire kingdom army prepared their fire launchers. No one made a move, nor did Golb. Confusion filled everyone that made it impossible to decide what to do next. Flame princess ordered her allies to hold their fire. The sound of the destructive tornado was the only sound in that moment of stillness.

The Gumball Guardian with the broken wrist cautiously approached Golb. Golb's yellow eyes shifted towards it, making a slippery, slimy sound. They turned into a black colour for a moment and the Gumball Guardian instantly exploded, like a broken glass. Everyone screamed. Flame princess gave an angry shout and ordered her army to attack. Soon, there were hundreds of fireballs collapsing onto Golb. For an instant, no one else attacked, but then, king man and his Martians joined the fight with their laser beams. Afterwards, the rest helped out with whatever they could. Spears, arrows, rocks, anything non magical creatures could find. The magicians divided in different positions. Some casted thunderbolts, blue fireballs, frozen and flashing beams of light. The knight with black armour got on his carriage and ordered his horses to gallop close to Golb's feet. He took out a crossbow and shot green arrows that were made out of energy. Huntress wizard also shot arrows with poison on the tips.

Golb was huge, and at first, it stood careless, as if none of the attacks bother it, but then, annoyed, it waved its heavy arms around to cover itself. Its eyes turned back to their normal yellow state and they opened and closed, getting angrier. The other Gumball Guardian used its hands like a giant shovel and gathered massive stones that Flame princess would heat up, almost reaching a lava state, and then, the Gumball Guardian would throw said stones on Golb. The masses of ground would spread and burn Golb as it grunted. The Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant flew in circles around Golb, blasting mystical energy beams at incredible speeds. From the sky, right behind the stumbling castle, a wave of gigantic birds arrived. Some were magical, flying near Golb, spitting fire through their peaks, and others with supersonic chirps. Many warriors called out for the flying creatures and mounted on their backs in numbers of four or more. Carrying weapons and anything they saw useful to drop on Golb just like a war plane.

\- Follow me! – One of the magicians, with a golden robe and white long hair, waved his right hand at the pack of the flying gigantic eagles and crows. He led them as they flew higher, reaching the grey clouds, to attack from above. Golb was volumetric, it took them about four minutes to reach the highest point. Everything underneath looked arcane, queer, and abstract. Golb's head looked like an ancient pyramid. Tiny explosions of the attacks from below could be seen. The golden sorcerer raised his left hand and from the sky, lightning gathered above his palm – on my command! – he struggled to holler. The fleet prepared their weapons and when the magical old man signalled with his other hand, they dropped all they had brought, from rocks, arrows and swords, to energy balls, lightning and poisonous liquids onto Golb's pointy head. Then they flew back to the surface to repeat the process. On the way down, some were sucked into the black tornado that made way towards the battlefield. The others that survived repeated the strategy.

The whole scene looked like a man being attacked by flying insects and tiny speckles of fire, rocks, energy, arrows and many objects in many directions. From the point of view of everyone other than Golb, it was the most epic, violent battle ever.

The sky was black, obscured by the clouds, with new tornadoes forming from the grey clouds. Golb's movements were slow in the perspective of the smaller creatures. It gave the illusion of Golb not moving. Catapults were provided by the Gumbaldians. They used it to launch sticky spheres with a burning compound. Those were very effective when they splashed on the surfaces of Golb. _"This isn't enough, we need something more!"_ the Gumbaldian left in charge by Gumbald thought. On the east, King man gave the order to aim at Golb's eyes. The laser beams faded into the distance. King man used a pair of binoculars to verify the attacks. The beams were too small to do any affect. Since Golb wasn't moving, almost every single living being ran towards Golb and attacked from a closer angle. Huntress wizard was now shooting arrows like a machine gun from above on a purple crow. She looked at the tornadoes plotting of a way to stop them. _"Maybe I can stop them using my magic"_ she thought flying near one. She concentrated, waved her hands and tried to stop its spinning cycles but got no results. Her magical vision showed her that the tornadoes were caused by Golb. Then, she heard the air breaking behind her as something flew towards her. Huntress wizard turned around and was hit by one of Golb's huge yellow geometrical blocks.

Golb was now striking back, using its levitating blocks to smash anything that moved. The geometrical figures made strange levitating noises mixed with the wind. On the ground, bodies and limbs were shot everywhere and screams were suffocated. _Take cover!_ Some yelled. The yellow cubes were painted red with the blood and organs of those unfortunate ones who got crushed. Golb's figures were unpredictable, they seemed to have a mind of their own. Those who hid behind rocks, elevated grounds or craters were also flattened by the building sized blocks. The ground trembled making many lose their valance and fall to the muddy ground.

\- Blast those… those… those things! – Flame princess desperately ordered her troops. The fire creatures gathered in different groups and combined their fire to burn the fast levitating figures. The Gumball Guardian entered the scene and got a hold of a brick. The Guardian struggled as it held the vibrating cube.

\- It's working! They are melting! – one fire creature smirked when he saw the blocks turning red from the heat, but their fire wouldn't melt the flying squared figures. Flame princess was astonished. The blocks seemed to be made out of a stronger material, and now, they had turned into a worse threat. The yellow blazing bricks crushed and burned everything they smashed on, and the grounds they crashed into, made huge walls of fire. Meanwhile, the Gumball Guardian was being lifted, by the cube it tried to hold still, and levitated upwards. The guardian tried to let go but couldn't, the geometrical figure had some sort of attraction force, like a magnet.

\- Help! Help! - The guardian began to agitate when it saw the distance from the ground it had taken him, and kept trying to escape from the cube's grasp. Everyone stopped what they were doing to see how the cube dropped the Gumball Guardian from a considerable height. The giant guardian tried to land on its feet but bended and fell on its back, crushing many people that were below in that moment, including the knight with black armour and his two black horses.

Huntress wizard had landed near Golb's right foot when she was taken down by one of the cubes. She struggled to get up and noticed her giant crow a few meters away, stiff and lifeless. Then, Huntress wizard saw the new chaos with the cubes that was occurring and decided to run back, far away from Golb – Fall back! – she yelled and played a loud whistle – fall back!

All warriors, knights, wizards, magical animals, Gumbaldians and candy people retreated from Golb and the fire kingdom stopped heating Golb's rectangular stones.

\- We have to get rid of those blocks! – A giant Gumbaldian angrily yelled from afar.

Suddenly all the enormous bricks spun very fast around Golb's body and elevated back to its pyramid head. Golb made a loud roar that sounded like a laugh, as if it was mocking everyone.

The candy kingdom castle was falling apart and its top floor slowly crumbled, meanwhile, Simon and Betty ran through a dark tunnel. Betty had casted a floating sphere of light that shone the dark passage.

\- This has to be it! I can feel it, I can feel it! – Betty told Simon as they descended.

The tunnel was made out of rectangular rocks, full of dust and old spider webs. Simon sang to himself - " _it is the saddest day, when you find you're alone..."_ \- he was afraid of narrow spaces that could collapse at any moment and crush him like a bug. He sang loud and out of tone whenever the tunnel had sudden oscillations - " _See I got no place to go… yeah the truth is I feel safe here…"_

Betty on the other hand, was more afraid of the thought that they weren't going the right way and were heading to a dead end. Outside the tunnel, the muffled sounds of the battle against Golb, explosions and screams of death could be heard. They felt when the gigantic blocks and the Gumball Guardian fell to the ground.

\- Are you singing what I think you are singing? – Betty said in a flirting manner, trying to soothe Simon and the tension of the situation. She felt warmth inside her heart. Betty had forgotten all about that song.

\- You know I don't like small places… – Simon replied with eyes closed and continued to sing. It was a song Betty had dedicated Simon and that they also liked to sing in duet in their karaoke nights back in the human days – " _Now I return to your place, knocking, trying to get in, and your roommate… your roommate… says, why are you back here again?"_

\- Hey! You skipped the chorus – Betty pouted. Simon shivered, Betty could feel his shaking hand.

\- I don't remember it, it's been so, so long… - Simon answered and kept singing, opening his eyes now and then – _"I put my things… down in the hall, quietly enter your room, you're… sound asleep with the cats as I climb back in bed with you..."_ – Simon stopped, the chorus was next and then Betty continued.

\- " _I want to take you to Overlee, in a blue world, floating endlessly…"_ – she sang softly.

Simon opened his eyes – That's it! Yeah! Keep going!

 _\- "Where there's no language, and there's no country, I want to take you to Overlee..._ " – Betty tried to sound as cute and neat as possible.

\- " _I want to take you to Overlee" –_ Simon began to relax.

\- " _Overlee_ " – Betty sung next.

\- _"Floating around endlessly" –_ Simon continued.

\- " _Endlessly_ " – Betty glanced back, smiled at Simon and kept the pace.

\- " _No language and no country_ " – Simon maintained Betty's pace.

\- " _Overlee_ " – Betty tripped on an edge but kept walking fast.

\- " _Where I could hold you tenderly"_ – Simon gently pressed Betty's hand.

\- " _Tenderly_ " – She pressed his hand back.

\- " _I would take you over me_ " – He admired Betty's hair.

\- " _Over me_ " – Betty turned around to look at him.

Both – " _I want to take you to Overlee…_ "

They marvelled at each other. The gentle light of the sphere gave Betty a sublime shade, while Simon's eyes, that Betty adored, looked deeper in that moment. They kissed in the gloom, in an endless tunnel, with an apocalypse above and death lurking in the shadows. They were interrupted when the tunnel began to move violently around. They immediately hugged and closed their eyes, hoping it wasn't the end. Fortunately, only dust fell upon them. Betty and Simon decided to continue their descent in a faster pace.

Up above, king man and Flame princess conspired. King man suggested to strike Golb's eyes, since it was the only soft spot he could see. Flame princess agreed but wondered how they could reach that height. The Gumball Guardian got back on its feet, leaving a depression of its body, like a crater, on the ground full of cadavers. The gigantic worms travelled underneath the field and resurfaced next to Golb's legs. They began to bite them. Golb didn't even notice, they weren't a threat at all.

\- This is not working! – Laser wizard told Forest wizard.

\- Maybe we could freeze that thing! – he replied.

\- Yes! That could work, but who has that ability? – Laser wizard looked around, everyone was attacking Golb again.

\- Ice king! – Grand master wizard yelled excited. The wizards nodded and right there they noticed that Ice king wasn't in the battle.

\- Where is he anyway? – Forest wizard asked.

\- Who knows! – Grand master wizard shrugged – let me feel his presence – He closed his eyes, concentrated and his green gem glowed. Meanwhile in the background, Golb waved its arms around trying to hit the flying creatures that flew near it – hum… that's odd, I can't feel his magical essence – Grand master wizard scratched his chin.

\- Great! When we finally need him, he is nowhere to be found, just great! – Laser wizard complained.

The rock giants grabbed trees, broke the logs into sharp spears and the fire kingdom warriors lit them on fire, ready to be thrown. Some bounce off, others stuck like splinters on Golb's rough surface.

Golb counter attacked again, this time, it did not use its hovering cubes, but instead, blew some kind of substance, like a breeze, some sort of transparent snow from its immense mouth. Instead of freezing, whatever it came into touch, it burned to ashes. Many were affected and carbonized in a slow and painful combustion. Margles covered BMO's eyes as she turned around to avoid witnessing the horrific scene. But something curious happened to fire humanoids. They were benefitted, gaining more strength and size. Flame princess took advantage of the opportunity and told her people to get on a flying animal to burn Golb's eyes off. Some of the gigantic birds that were fighting above heeded the call and came to help. Unfortunately, they weren't able to complete the mission because the bodies of the brave flame soldiers would burn the earthly creatures.

\- We need something strong enough to support the heat we emit - a burning warrior that had gained ten meters in size, told Flame princess as the rest gave positive gestures of agreement.

The princess squeezed her cheeks thinking, she had also profited from Golb's substance. Then she rapidly and randomly pointed at two of her men and a woman - You, you and you! Come with me! – she was furious and turned into her fire dragon form, ordered her allies to get on her and flew towards Golb. Flame princess learned the meaning of dread in the moment she saw its yellow lifeless eyes, making her feel desperation and hopelessness inside her blazing heart. Her rage was strong but she couldn't help but think she was heading straight to death, she panicked in silence.

Tiffany gathered with all the robots while they created a plan to eliminate Golb. They had analysed and studied Golb since it had arrived to earth. They noticed that its rough spiky skin was poisonous, they calculated the power of its cubes that seemed to have a life of their own. Also, Golb's lack of movement and more important, its inability to see small objects. They concluded that Golb's was so heavy, that it couldn't even lift itself. So, they took out some metallic sheets from crate boxes they had brought for the war. The sheets were 1x1 meters in size and thin.

\- This may be able to work - a robot, that looked like a combination between a dog and a man, said glancing at everyone around him.

\- What does that do? - Tiffany asked touching the surface of the silvery plate.

\- It is compressed dynamite, we can control its detonation, we just need to place them on that demonic thing. It has to be us, us robots, we cannot be poisoned by its skin! - the same robot humanoid dog said closing his fist.

They discussed where to place them and a very old android, with a female robotic voice and the body of a little girl, suggested to place them all around Golb's pyramid head - If we attack the brain, we destroy everything - she justified herself. The robotic party made sense of the idea and finally accepted the rushed plan.

\- I like the idea, but… there is one thing we haven't considered - a silver with mechanical assembled parts and a skull with enormous eyes interfered – we cannot carry the crates while we climb to the top, they are too heavy!

-Leave that to me! - Tiffany jumped out of her spot - I'll get some flying creatures to carry them to the top! You guys just climb and we'll meet you up there! - and with that, Tiffany ran off.

From the west of the castle, backup arrived, an army of nature beings marched their way down. Bears, wolves, electric rhinos, small and big hogs that walked on two legs, squirrels with tiny swords, flying horses, unicorns with wings, ten meter sized iguanas with full body armour, spiders as big as cars, elephants with magical tusks, a whole village of normal dogs, more moving trees and rock humanoids, winged lions, green skinned men, a sphinx and many other fantastical beings. Huntress wizard was flying once again on a brown bird, blasting her magical arrows at Golb, when she saw the arriving back up. She celebrated with a loud "yes!". Her call for help had been heard, not only those creatures, but far in the distance, more animals were coming to fight. Huntress wizard flew towards them and searched for a black, tall, fat, spider with a glowing blue belly.

The robot community reached the left leg of Golb and began to climb, like a rocky mount, it was a long way to the top. They looked like ants from the balconies of the candy kingdom castle. Some flesh beings saw the androids climbing up and imitated them, but fell to the ground as they died of poisoning. The new back up joined the fight and attacked Golb effectively. Some of the big spiders climbed Golb and bit its skin. The elephants with magical tusks created black spheres of energy. The normal dogs would help fetch equipment to whoever needed it. The electric rhinos emitted thunder from their horns. The sphinx teleported from place to place and used black magic on Golb. Huntress wizard landed and ran through the battlefield until she saw the spider with the glowing blue belly. She rushed towards her calling out to her, never happier to see her.

\- Huntress wizard! – she said and moved her eight legs – we heard the call!

\- I'm glad to see you too! Hey! Did you bring it? – Huntress wizard asked with hopeless eyes.

The huge spider smiled and said – You know that where ever I go, I carry it with me, I am the guardian, of course I brought it! - the tall spider replied as Huntress wizard shyly scratched her head.

The robots were now on Golb's face, almost on the top. The building sized yellow blocks hovered in silence around Golb's face and head. An eerie feeling filled the air. Tiffany was already at the top, flying on a white dove, along with others that joined. The birds carried the crates with their claws and waited for the robots as they flew in circles around the pyramid. Bandit princess noticed the scene and wondered what they were going to do. Suddenly, the attacks from the ground were too much for Golb, and it decided to use its yellow cubes again. The climbing androids stood motionless, hoping Golb hadn't noticed them. Everyone hid and ran to avoid being crushed. Many of the new creatures that had arrived didn't know what was happening and got killed by the floating geometrical figures.

In that moment, above on the sky, a violent vortex appeared, spiraling thunder around its edges. King man was helping collect helpful weapons for the newcomers when he noticed the portal twirling with aggression. Then something huge came out of it, a never before seen warrior had arrived in a dark purple dragon. He was athletic, about eighteen or nineteen years of age, with really long golden hair that shone like a diamond, dressed all in a white armour, from top to bottom. He carried a sword in his right chromed hand. The blade was made out of mystical, rare and pure gems. A loud cracking sound was heard from the black skies. The crunching sound emitted from a yellow block that had been broken in two by the mysterious warrior's sword. Everyone cheered for him as he fought against Golb's yellow stones. One of the broken pieces of a block flew away and landed somewhere near the candy kingdom castle, falling just like a meteor. Golb's eyes opened in puzzlement.

-This is it! – Betty said as she touched a metal door. The door was covered in a layer of dirt, it had encryptions and strange symbols carved on it. They had finally reached the end of the tunnel.

\- How will we get in? – Simon said to himself as he tried to solve the symbols – I get it! – Simon suddenly said cheerfully – it's a puzzle, it shouldn't take us long to figure it out.

\- Back away Simon! – Betty said concerned and shoved him back with her left hand – I will blast the shit out of this gate, get back! – secure of herself and with some sort of hatred in her voice, a hatred Simon knew was caused by the whole ordeal, a hatred that said "I am tired of this shit!", she created an invisible force that impacted on the heavy steel door.

The first hit bended it badly and by the second hit, the door flew far away like a feather as Betty groaned. The place was in complete penumbra as they entered, so Betty had to cast a bigger sphere of light to light up the whole place. She felt her magic drain her a vast amount of energy, Betty was getting exhausted. They stood in a very large garage, like a warehouse or a military underground base, a bit bigger than that and it was soundless. On the far left of the chamber, a gate way stood closed and in front of it, a medium large space ship was kept. From the spacecraft to the right, a large amount of space separated it from a huge wall at the end of the base.

\- We found it! – Betty began to cry out of happiness and desperation – Yes! Yes! We found it! – she repeated and hugged Simon while they cheered – Let's go! There's no time to lose! – Simon nodded and ran with Betty. The vessel was far away, and the sound of their footsteps reverberated through the emptiness of the place, then, the ground slowly shifted. They stopped and stood in silence. It sounded as if something was approaching them from above. Like a silent hovering sound. The sound became louder and stronger, and then, on the far right end of the secret chamber, the roof collapsed as a broken yellow cube crashed through like a meteor. Simon and Betty jumped scared and surprised. Broken pieces of the yellow block, ceiling and walls of the underground warehouse flew randomly, Betty made a small protective shield around them and felt a loss of energy once again. When the dust and smoke had vanished, the outside war could be heard and seen. Simon felt a sudden urge to see what was going on outside and ran towards the right end of the chamber to have a better look.

\- Simon get back here! – Betty yelled and ran after him – What the hell are you doing! – Betty felt desperate and fatigued.

Simon stood at the broken wall looking out, stiff. Betty reached him and grabbed his shoulder. Simon's whole body filled with cold horror and wouldn't move from his spot. He saw everybody fighting and heard their cries of deaths, glared at the black sky, grey clouds and tornadoes that sucked in many warriors. And then he saw Golb. Its yellow lifeless eyes, its red poisonous body and its monstrous mouth. He felt dead again looking into those yellow eyes, a sensation that if he stared too long, those eyes would suck out his soul. It was the first time, since he got back, that he saw what was really going on outside, he had a rush of sadness, fright and guilt for unknown some reason.

\- Simon please! – Betty pulled his forearm trying to drag him back – Let's go! Please! – Betty begged as they saw the battle.

BMO gazed in amazement at the new warrior and named him "The knight of the sun". BMO also noticed the mysterious sword and gasped. Margles heard BMO and asked it if something was the matter.

\- Look! At the sword! – BMO yelled – that is no ordinary sword, it, it… it is a myth, a legend! I never believed in it – Margles focused her eyesight to see the weapon. The knight of the sun was crushing and slaying Golb's geometrical rocks with ease.

\- What about it little guy? – Margles asked BMO.

\- That's the sword of the gods! – BMO yelled full of excitement – It is said it was made by the creators of everything, capable of destroying anything, kill anything, even gods!

\- Are you saying that, that sword can kill Golb? – Margles carried BMO and place it in front of her face.

\- Exactly! – BMO waved desperately its arms.

Margles celebrated with BMO – If this story of the sword is real, and you are not confusing the sword with another one, then we may actually have an opportunity to defeat Golb! – her eyes gained hope once again and King man arrived running at the scene.

\- Margles, Margles! Are you all right – he jaded – we kinda got lost back there – King man pointed at the battlefield. Margles hugged him and relayed what BMO had just told her.

\- The sword of the gods? – King man repeated estranged – I've never heard about that – he continued as he looked at the mysterious knight. He felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen that person before. The distance from them made the knight of the sun's face blurry. _Who is he? Why did he come out of nowhere from that portal? And where the hell is Betty?_ He asked himself those questions.

The robots reached the pyramid head. Tiffany and the others descended close to the androids as they began to unload the silver plates. They were quick to place them. The idea was to attach the dynamite squares all around the four bottom edges of Golb's head. Then, if they still had enough, they'd place them on the middle and the tip of the pyramid. When they finished with one crate, another one was supplied by the huge birds.

\- Damn! His killing it! – Huntress wizard said proudly when she saw the knight of the sun protecting everybody from Golb's cubes – Who is he? I think I'm in love… - she gasped as she felt pressure on her chest.

The knight flew flawlessly with his dragon, slaying and breaking Golb's levitating and menacing figures. It looked unreal, how a small artefact, such as the sword, could cut the building sized bricks as if they were gelatine.

\- Keep it together! – The knight told his dragon with his teen human voice – careful with that block! – the dragon roared and flew even faster to avoid a figure that was about to strike them down – there are too many! It knows! It knows about the sword! It won't let us near its head! – the knight said angrily. His idea was to collide his sword right through Golb's face, but the cubes were too many and were protecting Golb's. Whenever the knight saw a gap he could go through, Golb would immediately block it and attack with another cube. Huntress wizard noticed and called out for the sphinx. The sphinx landed near and she mounted it as she ordered it to fly her to the knight.

\- Need any help? – Huntress wizard appeared next to him. The knight of the sun slowly turned around to face her – I could distract it from… from… - Huntress wizard stammered - … you… it's… but… you… you – Her eyes widened in an incredulous manner. She froze for a moment and continued – but Jake said you were dead! – Huntress wizard finished in shock.

\- Me? Dead? Ha! – he scoffed – you are the one that died! – he looked at her as Huntress wizard made an even more confused face – I mean, in my universe, you died – he cleared his throat.

Huntress wizard stood motionless and began to talk to herself – I must be hallucinating, I mean, I miss him, yes, but maybe hearing the bad news earlier psychologically scarred me, and with all this commotion, I am imagining him… but then… all the broken bricks… everyone can see it… so... – she was so deep in her thoughts until the warrior screamed as the dragon grabbed the sphinx with Huntress wizard and saved them from an attacking cube – wow! – she choked on her words – you saved me, Finn! You saved me, it really is you! But how!?

\- It's a long story Huntress wizard! All I can tell you for now is that I'm from another alternative universe, I knew this was going to happen and I came to help! Are you listening to me? – He yelled – I need you to focus, this is very important! Help us! I need to get to that face!

Huntress wizard got a hold of herself and nodded – Got it, I'll distract it for you! – she patted the sphinx to fly around the cubes.

Using her magic, huntress wizard casted an illusion spell that made her and the sphinx look like the dark purple dragon and Finn the knight of the sun. The geometrical figures were fooled and followed behind, attempting to kill her. Finn and the dragon were clear and had a free straight way directly to Golb's face.

\- Go! – He ordered his dragon with a quick yell.

 _This is it! It's over!_ He thought as he was approaching Golb _._ Flame princess had reached Golb's left bottom eye and prepared to burn it off along with her warriors. _This is your doom!_ He kept thinking almost reaching Golb's mountain sized face.

\- On my command! – Flame princess shouted, her dragon face was full of rage – now! Do it now! Aggh!

The princess and her warriors blasted all of their might onto Golb's eye till they had drained all of their powers away. Golb's eye melted first and then it exploded, and all of its liquid spurted out on Flame princes and her soldiers. Finn prepared his sword. _And this is for the Jake of this universe!_ He thought out loud. Golb became hysterical and gave a devastating roar that made the ground quake. Finn was about to swing his sword when all of this happened. Golb, like a defence mechanism, rapidly vibrated and quickly emitted from its body, a powerful wave of electric energy that radiated in all directions. Flame princes, her soldiers, Finn the knight of the sun and his dragon, and the robots above were the first ones to be hit by Golb's defence. The robots' circuits were immediately fried as they fell flat all at once. The gigantic birds were disoriented and accidentally dropped the crates. The crates opened as they fell and all the compressed dynamite flew about, exploding on the battlefield, killing many. One of the silver dynamite sheets fell on Finn's dragon and blasted Finn out of combat. His sword darted away somewhere. Tiffany fell on top of the pyramid, smacked her forehead on the poisonous surface, rolled down to the edge and fell to her death. Flame princess was suddenly batted far away by one of Golb's bricks. The cubes were flying randomly at deadly speeds all around Golb. Finn's dragon slowly, like a falling plane, descended from the ground. Golb took its tongue out and wrapped it around the dragon, and then ate it. The sound of bones breaking could be heard from below and the dragon's blood dripped all over Golb's mouth. Finn yelled in anger and sadness as he dropped from above. Huntress wizard flew to his aid with the sphinx and saved him from a falling death.

Golb had finally lost its patience, it reflected on its three eyes. That attack done by Flame princess made Golb so furious that it slowly stood up on its feet. Everyone began to scream in horror when Golb lifted its left leg to take a small and heavy step. The rocky, muddy camp trembled with its footstep.

" _Retreat!", "Fall back! Fall back!", "Run!"_ were the only words in the battlefield. Every living being on the field ran away towards a new hiding area.

Over on the secret chamber, Simon turned to face Betty, his eyes looked pained and then he said – Betty, did you bring that… that thing? – He had teary eyes – you told me before, you had brought some… some unstoppable force… is this?... did you?... bring?...

Betty felt as if the air in her lungs had suddenly vanished – I…I… - she stammered as she looked into Simon's deep eyes. Simon kept stuttering, Betty was speechless and said what came to her mind – I did it all for you! But… But… but things got out of hands, and… and… and… and I don't know what happened! – Betty burst into tears and cried – I am… I am…- her sobs made her gasp every word she spoke and wouldn't let her talk straight - I, I, I am…am…sorry… sorry am I …– Betty finished and gasped repeatedly for air. Simon held her tight and caressed her hair. Betty's tears filled Simon's jacket.

\- There, there, my little scientific princess, it's ok, it's ok…

\- Don't hate me Simon! – she cried more – don't be ashamed of me! – and her cries became louder and heavier.

Simon let a small smirk out and replied – I'm not ashamed of you Betty… I would never be – He tried to lift her chin to look at her, but she wouldn't move her head from Simon's chest – It has to have a weakness…- Betty slowly cocked her head up to look at him, her eyelids were red – It defeated everyone in a single move… - he uttered that to himself in silence and a wave of shivering pulses ran through his nerve system.

Betty placed her head on his chest once again – I don't want to die… especially not now that you are here…

Simon strongly hugged her and kissed the top of her head – I don't want to die either, and I am very afraid – He said and Betty noticed his legs were shaking a lot – but we need to fix this, we can't leave it like this…I…I... I couldn't live with myself knowing we left our home to its doom, and you wouldn't either, I know you... hey, look at me – he delicately lifted her head up - we can't leave like this, not like this… we need to fix it…

\- But Simon, it cannot be stopped, you just saw what happened! There is nothing we can do! – Betty's eyes were now filled with dread.

Simon stood in silence, looking into Betty's desperate stare. He closed his eyes thinking and replied – There is always a way, remember Betty? You have always said that, and it's true! Betty listen – he held her dirty cheeks – if it wasn't for you and that mentality, I wouldn't even be here right now, you stood you ground and found a way to save me! We can do this, there is always a way, every system has its flaws! We just have to find them…we can't run from our mistakes… we have to do something, anything!

Betty gasped and finally uttered – Fine... fine... ok… - she took a deep breath, collapsed to her knees and cried louder – we're gonna die, we're gonna die! – Betty dramatically stuttered covering her face with both of her hands. Simon knelt and held her tight.

\- It's ok princess, everything will be alright… everything will be alright… - Simon kissed her forehead as he looked at Golb taking another slow step. His face expressed hopelessness and his eyes were those of a person that has denied death but has accepted his fate. Betty sobbed as Simon hugged her tight.


End file.
